


A Kind Of Painful Progress

by writetherest



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Oz - L. Frank Baum, Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, F/F, Magic Baby Fic, Minor Character Death, serious injury to major character due to magical attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-20
Updated: 2014-04-20
Packaged: 2018-01-20 04:03:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1495930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writetherest/pseuds/writetherest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Hook shows up at Emma's door, he's shocked to find that Emma's got a baby. Meanwhile, in the Enchanted Forest, a Wicked Witch is wrecking havoc. Emma needs to remember and find her way back to once again become The Savior - but at what cost?  Everyone soon learns that things aren't always as they seem and progress can often be painful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Swan Queen Big Bang. All the love in the world to the amazing people who participated in our inaugural event. You made it incredible!
> 
> Idea taken from a prompt by MiniRegal. I hope I did it at least a little bit of justice.
> 
> I'm playing with Oz canons here, taking some from Baum, some from Wicked, and melding them with my own spin. Hope it all makes sense. Also, we're going AU at the end of 'Going Home', if it isn't obvious.
> 
> Many, many thanks to fictorium for the beta as well as generally all of the things. She's truly the best beta, friend, and co-mod I could ever ask for and without her, this Big Bang wouldn't have happened. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!

**_Nothing’s lost forever. In this world, there’s a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we’ve left behind, and dreaming ahead. At least I think that’s so._ **

_\- Harper Pitt, Angels In America (written by Tony Kushner)_

**

“Someone coming over?” Henry looks up from the breakfast table at the sound of knocking. It’s awfully early for anyone to be knocking on their door.

“No.” The knocking gets louder. Emma frowns. “Henry, wait here.”

She gets up from the table and goes to the door, opening it with caution.

“Swan.”

The use of her last name throws her for a bit of a loop, as does the way the man is dressed. And god, is that a hook where his hand is supposed to be? What the hell kind of weirdo is this and how does he know her name?  “Do I know you?”

“I need your help. Something’s happened. Something terrible. Your family is in trouble.”

Emma shakes her head. “My family’s right here.”

The man opens his mouth to say something, but before he can, a cry sounds from inside the apartment. Emma instantly turns at it, only to see Henry already getting up.

“I’ll get her.” He calls, heading down the hall.

“Look, I don’t know who you are or what you want, but you need to leave. Now.”

“No, Swan, listen. I know you don’t remember but I can make you.” The man reaches forward and pulls her into a kiss.

She reacts instantly, her knee jerking up to hit him hard where it hurts. He falls back against the wall of the hallway.

“What the hell are you doing?” She gasps, already shaking from adrenalin and the littlest bit of fear.

“A long shot. I had to try. I was hoping you felt as I did.”

“All that I feel is disgust!” She spits.

“Mom?” Henry asks, as he comes back into the room, a baby in his arms.

The man’s eyes take in the sight and go wide. “Wh – what –“

“Henry,” Emma moves to block the view of her children, “take Harper back to her room and stay there until I come to get you.”

“Are you okay?” He asks, even as he shifts the baby to hold her more securely, blocking her from view with his own body.

“I’m fine. Just take your sister and go, please.”

“Sister?” The man gasps. “She’s – you – you’re –“

Emma leans out into the hallway, her eyes narrowed. “I already told you, my family is right here. And I will do whatever it takes to protect them. So I suggest you get the hell out of here.”

“Swan!” He calls, but Emma just slams the door in his face, flipping the deadbolt for good measure.

She leans against the door for a minute, taking in deep breaths to calm down before she heads for the nursery.

She finds Henry settled in the rocking chair, gently rocking the baby as he hums softly to her. The sight brings a smile to her face.

“Mom.” He says softly, trying not to startle the baby. “Are you okay? Who was that guy?”

“I’m fine.” She assures, reaching down to take the baby from Henry’s arms. She kisses her daughter’s head as she holds her close. “We’re fine. I don’t know who he was, but he’s gone now. We’re all safe. Aren’t we, munchkin?” She whispers into downy hair. “Now come on, let’s go eat our breakfast before it gets cold.”

**

“Did you find her?”

“Does she remember?”

“Is Henry alright?”

The questions come all at once, as soon as Hook opens the small compact that Regina had enchanted before he left on his journey. In the circle, he can see Snow, David, and Regina, all leaning close, vying for a spot. Regina is at the center, something that doesn’t surprise him in the least.

“I’ve found her and the boy, but neither of them remembers. I tried kissing her to make her remember but –“

“What?” The tone is chilling and Hook drops the compact as he sees a fireball heading straight for him. Luckily, the magic cannot travel through the mirror in this world without magic and he remains unharmed.

“You imbecile.” Regina snarls and Hook cautiously picks the compact back up.

“I had to try.” He tries to explain, but Regina’s expression reveals that she doesn’t give a damn what he thought he needed to do.

“You had one job. One! And have you done it, pirate?”

He blinks then, looking almost sheepish as he realizes that he hadn’t done what they’d asked of him yet. He’d been so sure that the kiss would work.

“I cannot believe you! I cannot believe that I ever trusted you to go and bring my son and –“

“Regina.” Snow places a hand on Regina’s arm which she quickly shrugs off, but she does seem to calm just the slightest bit.

“You will stick to the plan. You will do as asked, or the next fireball will come through, I swear to you.” Regina hisses.

“How were they?” Snow asks then, when the silence has started to stretch in the face of Regina’s threat. “Did they look well? Happy?”

“They…” he trails off, remembering the baby in Henry’s arms and Emma’s words. “They looked happy. But –“

“But?” Regina jumps on the word. “But what, Hook?”

“It wasn’t just the two of them.”

“Emma’s found someone?” Snow gasps, although there’s definitely a pleased undertone to the words.

“How did he seem?” David asks, instantly in father mode.

Regina says nothing, just stares blankly ahead, but he can tell that she’s rattled by the news. Just wait until he tells them the rest.

“She seemed rather needy. As all babies are, I’d imagine.”

“B-baby?” Regina nearly chokes the word. “No. You cannot be serious. You must be mistaken. She cannot have –“

“Ah, but she does. Confirmed it herself when she went into angry mama bear mode on me. And your son is quite the protective big brother, Regina.”

There’s another fireball in Regina’s hand then, but he’s fairly certain that she doesn’t even know that she’s conjured it, so he keeps hold of the compass.

“But how –“

“Well, love, I’d think you’d know that, seeing as how you and your prince are expecting yourselves.” Hook replies to Snow’s confused question.

“Hook, enough.” David chastises, as Snow’s hand goes to her stomach, resting protectively against her protruding stomach. Then, he seems to think of something and his eyes narrow.

“Hook, the baby – it’s not – you didn’t –“

The flame in Regina’s hand flares angrily.

“Not me, mate. Much as I’d like to have gotten acquainted in the necessary way, I can assure you that I did not sire Swan’s child.”

“Oh god.” Snow breathes then. “Neal. How will we tell her?”

“The same way you told my mother my secrets,” Regina snaps. “You’ll just open your mouth and the words will fly out.”

“Regina!”

“Do your job, pirate.” She commands before she waves her hand and Hook is left staring at his own reflection.

“That went about as well as expected.” He mutters to himself as he moves below deck to gather what he needs.

**

Emma’s in Central Park when she sees him again.

She’s halfway into her second loop around the reservoir, with Harper conked out in her running stroller, when she spots him, standing just beyond the path, watching her.

Her stomach flips at the sight of him and she thinks about just running on past and heading for home – she’s fairly certain she can out run him – but she just can’t bring herself to do that.

Instead, she slows down her pace and moves over to where he’s standing, being careful to keep herself between him and Harper, even though it’s tricky.

“Emma.” He says this time, his eyes searching her face for something. She flinches at the use of her first name.

“Look, buddy, I don’t know what your deal is, but I’m telling you right now that if I ever, ever see you anywhere near me or my kids again, you won’t live to tell about it. You got me? So I suggest you keep on walking and get the hell away from me, because otherwise, I’m going to start screaming and I’ll have the cops over here so fast, it’ll make your head spin.”

He frowns at the fact that she doesn’t remember yet, although he also recognizes the possibility that she may not have even been back to her apartment yet. So he just offers her a small nod of agreement.

“I’ll be at the harbor when – if you need me, Swan.”

“I’ll never need you.” She replies, maneuvering the stroller back onto the path and taking off running again, not even bothering to look back.

**

“Ooh, what’s that?” Henry runs for the door where a large box is propped.

“I don’t know.” Emma looks at it in surprise, trying to think if she had ordered anything recently, but nothing comes to mind.

“There’s no return address.” Henry reports as he looks over the box, “But it’s addressed to you.”

“Huh.” Emma shrugs, opening the door and pushing the stroller inside.

“I’ll open it!” He offers as soon as she bends over to get Harper out of the stroller and he rushes for the kitchen and the knives.

“Be careful. Don’t cut yourself. Those knives are sharp!” She scolds.

“Whoa. Cool.” Henry exclaims a few minutes later and Emma moves into the kitchen to see what he’s so excited about.

“Check it out, Ma.” He holds up a mirror for her to see.

“Wow. That’s gorgeous.” She says as she takes in the sunburst design of the mirror. There’s something about it that tugs at the back of her mind, like she’s seen it before somewhere, but she can’t quite remember.

“It’ll go great in Harper’s room!” Henry grins. “I’ll hang it up!”

“Henry, we don’t even know if this mirror was supposed to come to us. I didn’t order it. It might be a mistake.” She starts to protest, but he’s already pulling out tools from the bottom drawer.

“It was addressed to us.” Henry shrugs as he holds up a hammer. “Maybe someone sent it as a baby gift for Harper.”

Emma knows that there’s no one that would have sent them this as a baby gift, but she doesn’t say so. Instead she just watches as Henry gathers up all his supplies and begins hefting them, along with the mirror, to Harper’s room.

“Do you want any help there, handyman?” She asks as she watches him go.

“Nope.” Henry shakes his head, grinning. “I can do it.”

Emma lets him go, only flinching when she hears Henry pounding away at the wall. Harper, surprisingly, doesn’t flinch or cry at all. Instead, she seems rather interested by the noise, so Emma lifts her up and carries her into the nursery to show her what Henry is up to.

“Look what your big brother did, Harper.” She coos as they come into the room and take in the sight of the mirror now hanging on the wall just above her changing table. Emma has to admit that Henry was right – it does go beautifully with the forest wallpaper she’d picked out for Harper’s room.

Harper coos and reaches her hands out for Henry. He grins as he takes her from Emma, being careful to cradle her head securely.

“What do you think, Harp? Do you like it?”

“Henry.” Emma scolds him for the nickname, but he just grins as he rocks the baby who is completely entranced by him.

“What?” He looks up innocently. “She likes it.”

Emma just laughs and shakes her head, her eyes going back to the mirror. Her reflection shows back but for just a moment, she swears that she sees herself in a brown jacket with her hair down and curled instead of tied back like she has it now. She shakes her head and the image is gone.

**

Regina stands in her chambers, staring at her mirror. She hasn’t been able to bring herself to call on Sidney, even though she’s aching to. She just isn’t sure that she’s ready.

As though reading her thoughts, Sidney’s face appears in her mirror, startling her. “Sidney!”

“Apologies, your majesty,” the genie replies, although she can tell that he’s not sorry at all. She can’t blame him. He is trapped in the mirror again, after all. “But I couldn’t stand your staring any longer. Is there something I can do for you?”

He knows what she wants, but he’ll make her say it. She thinks, for just a moment, about smashing the mirror into thousands of pieces, but she knows it would do no good. Sidney would just move on to another mirror.

She clears her throat and straightens up, holding herself in her rigid, royal posture. “Show them to me.” She says with more confidence than she actually has.

Sidney grins for a moment and then disappears from the mirror. In his place, for the first time in a year, she catches sight of Emma Swan. At first, all she sees is blonde curls because Emma is facing away from the mirror, but her breath still catches in her throat and she finds that she can’t even blink, too afraid that the picture will disappear.

“I think it’s time for someone to go to sleep. Yes, I do.” Emma’s voice reaches her ears and she can’t stop herself from gasping at the sound of it. She moves closer to the mirror as Emma turns, revealing that Hook hadn’t been lying – there’s a baby in her arms and Regina feels her heart shatter for reasons she doesn’t even want to think about.

“What do you think, Munchkin?” Emma continues to talk to the little girl. “Is it time to go to sleep? I think it’s time. In fact… It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday,” she beings to sing, “The regular crowd shuffles in. There’s an old man sitting next to me, making love to his tonic and gin.”

“Great lullaby you’re singing there, Ma.”

Regina gasps again as Henry moves into the picture and tears begin sliding down her cheeks of their own accord. Her little prince is all grown up and she feels like her heart is being crushed in her chest because he’s so close and yet so very, very far away.

“Hey, Piano Man is a classic. And Harper likes it, don’t you, Harper?”

 _Harper_. Regina feels a tug in her heart at the name.

The baby coos and Emma smiles victoriously. Henry laughs and they look so happy together, the three of them, that Regina can’t stand it. She waves her hand and turns away from the mirror, ignoring Sidney as he calls after her.

**

It takes her until the next evening to work up the nerve to ask to see them again. She doesn’t tell Snow or David that she’s seen them. She isn’t willing to share them yet. Some things never change.

The room is empty when it comes into focus, but she can hear the sounds of the little family coming in from elsewhere in the apartment.

Music is playing and Henry and Emma are laughing.

She leaves the connection open and falls asleep to the sounds, pretending that she’s in the apartment with them.

**

The baby is the only one in the room the next time she opens the connection.

She can hear the sounds of Emma and Henry moving around the apartment, probably getting ready for the day, but Harper is still laying in her crib, awake but not fussing, instead taking in the room around her.

Almost as soon as Regina opens the connection, though, her wide hazel eyes – so like Emma’s already and had they been like that since she was born? – shift to the mirror as though she knows Regina is there.

It isn’t possible, Regina knows, but when a tiny hand reaches up and a little coo escapes those little lips, Regina feels a lump in her throat and tears in her eyes.

She waves her hand and the connection closes, although the image stays in her mind.

**

Regina has always been a light sleeper, so she wakes almost as soon as Harper lets out her first whimper.

She makes it to the mirror – which she’s taken to leaving ‘on’ all night now, her own version of a baby monitor connecting her to all three of them – just a few moments before Emma stumbles into the room. She’s bleary eyed, her hair mussed from sleep, but there’s a calmness about her that Regina envies. When Henry would wake up and cry during the night, Regina always felt that trickle of panic, that worry that there was something seriously wrong besides a wet diaper or an empty stomach.

But Emma is assured as she lifts the baby out of the crib, carrying her over towards the changing table. Because of the position of the table, Regina cannot see Harper, but Emma comes into sharp relief due to her proximity to the mirror. She’s got a look of concentration on her face as she changes the diaper that stirs Regina’s emotions.

Regina wonders if Emma would’ve been this way with Henry if she’d kept him, or if she would have been more like Regina. They say that the second child is easier and she wonders if the experience – the memories, anyway – of having gone through all of this with Henry has made it easier or if Emma really is just naturally good at being a mother. She’d never thought about the fact that Emma might be a good mother before. She’d been too busy worrying that Emma would take Henry away.

Harper lets out a soft cry, which pulls Regina from her thoughts. She sees that Emma has relocated to the rocking chair and is opening her robe. “Hungry, huh, Munchkin?” Emma asks as she reveals her breast and the baby latches on.

The first time she had seen Emma open her robe to breastfeed Harper, Regina had quickly closed the connection on the mirror, unable to watch such a private moment. Since then, though she has found herself unable to sever the connection. She knows it’s an invasion of privacy and can only imagine the things Emma would say if she knew, but there’s something so intimate and beautiful about the sight that Regina finds herself mesmerized.

Besides, she justifies to herself, Emma leaves the room darkened when she comes in to check on Harper at night, so between the darkness and the position of the baby, Regina can’t really see anything but their shadowed profiles.

Emma begins to hum softly as she gently moves the rocker back and forth. It’s become almost a game of Regina’s, to try and determine what completely ridiculous song Emma is going to use as a lullaby each night before she begins to sing it. It seems Emma has an eclectic taste in music, if her song selections are anything to go by. Billy Joel has made a few appearances in the week she’s been watching, as has The Boss – and that had caused a tightening in her chest when she heard Emma begin to sing a quiet version of Dancing In The Dark as she swayed Harper around the room – along with Patsy Cline (Walking After Midnight), The Beatles (Let It Be), and some others that she hadn’t been able to place.

Tonight though, Regina is surprised when Emma begins to sing. “One, singular sensation, every little step she takes. One, thrilling combination, every move that she makes. One smile and suddenly nobody else will do. You know you’ll never be lonely with you know who.”

Emma stands from the rocker after carefully pulling her robe closed, dancing her way gently across the room as she continues to sing. “One, moment in her presence and you can forget the rest, for the girl is second best to none, son. Ooh! Sigh! Give her your attention. Do I really have to mention? She’s the one.”

Emma keeps humming softly for a bit as she sways them around, before she carefully places Harper back in the crib, the baby sleeping soundly once again. She leans over the baby and Regina can’t see what she’s doing, but she’d guess that she’s tracing over the baby’s cheek with her fingers, running her hands over soft hair, all the things she used to do with Henry when he was sleeping.  Then, words come across the darkened room in a whisper, so softly, she has to strain to hear them.

“You’re the one, Harper. You and Henry. You’re it for me. And I know your daddy would say the same thing if he were here.”

Emma’s voice is choked, like she’s trying not to cry, and the mention of the word ‘daddy’ makes Regina’s blood boil and run cold at the same time.

She waves her head and quickly severs the connection, unwilling to hear any more.

**

Regina makes a show of contacting Hook through the mirror in front of Snow and Charming, demanding to know if he’d done as she asked, asking if Emma and Henry’s memories have returned yet, and never mentioning the fact that she can now see the family through the mirror.

Hook never questions her about it, although he looks like he wants to at one point, instead just saying that he’d tried contacting Emma one more time and it hadn’t gone well either.

After that, she retreats to her chambers, saying she needs to continue preparing things for both the return of Henry and Emma and also for the next attack that may be coming.

But she doesn’t do anything to prepare. Instead, she opens the connection to Emma’s apartment.

It’s Henry’s face that fills the mirror this time and she gasps and finds herself reaching out for him, her fingers pressing against the glass. “Henry.”

It’s the closest he’s come to the mirror since she’s started watching them and she drinks in every detail she can see, counting tiny scars and acne bumps, cataloging what she already knew about and what has changed in the year she’s been without him.

“There we go, Harp. All fresh and clean.” He grins as he lifts the baby up from the changing table, making faces at her as he does.

She reaches out and hits her hand against his face, clearly pleased by his silliness and showing her enjoyment the only way she knows how. Henry laughs and Regina can’t help the tiny sob that escapes her throat.

Hazel eyes shift to the mirror, staring at it in fascination.

“What do you see, huh?” Henry asks when he notices where Harper’s attention has gone. “Do you see a pretty girl in the mirror? Do you see that pretty girl?”

He moves her closer to the mirror so she can get a good look at her reflection. She coos and one hand reaches out, trying to touch the surface of the mirror. He shifts so that she’s even closer and her hand finally touches the glass.

It falls right over the spot where Regina’s own hand is still pressed against the glass on her side.

**

Henry tells Emma of Harper’s fascination with her reflection, which makes her laugh. She remembers Henry being the same way as a child, so amazed by the people in the mirror.

So when she takes Harper into the room for her afternoon nap, she stops in front of the mirror and tries to get Harper to look at her reflection. The baby seems uninterested though, instead nuzzling her head into Emma’s neck.

“Look, Harper. Look at the pretty baby.” Emma moves closer, reaching out with her free hand to point to the mirror. Harper follows her finger, but shows no signs of the earlier excitement Henry had described.

“Are you too sleepy to look at that pretty girl?” Emma asks her in a soft voice before turning away and heading for the crib. “Maybe after your nap, huh?”

Just as she goes to put her down though, Harper catches sight of the mirror and coos. Emma straightens up and turns back around, glancing back at the mirror. “Ah, now you’re interested, huh?”

She moves over and watches with amusement as Harper coos again and reaches her hand out towards the mirror.

“Now you want to touch her, huh? Go ahead. Touch her.” She leans closer and Harper’s hand again falls against the glass.

“She’s so pretty isn’t she? Momma’s gonna touch that pretty girl, too.” Emma says as she reaches her own hand out and settles it just above Harper’s on the glass.

It’s then, when her hand touches the mirror for the first time, that the flash of light spreads out from it in a wave, hitting Emma and Harper before dispersing out into the apartment.

Memories come rushing back as Emma sways on her feet, clutching Harper tightly as she sinks to the ground.

“Ma!” Comes Henry’s shout as he races into the room, skidding to a stop in front of her. “I remember!”


	2. Chapter 2

Hook is true to his word. The Jolly Roger is waiting in the harbor when they arrive, Emma holding tightly to Harper’s carrier with a diaper bag instead of a sword strapped across her back.

Henry’s backpack has made a reappearance and it’s taken everything she has to keep from sobbing when she sees it all packed up, ready for yet another adventure.

She hasn’t had time to mourn or even sort through the myriad of memories shifting and swirling through her head, though. Hook’s words keep replaying over and over, making her stomach plummet and her heart lurch. _“Your family is in trouble.”_

“Swan.” Hook calls as he catches sight of her, obviously understanding that she remembers.

“Hook!” Henry shouts, his feet pounding against the wood as he races for the Jolly Roger. “We remember!”

Henry scrambles aboard easily, but Emma falters, her hand clutching tighter to Harper’s carrier, that voice inside of her rising up, echoing louder and louder as she thinks about what she’s about to do, where she’s about to go.

_Run. Run. Run. Take Henry and Harper and run as far and as fast as you can._

She shakes her head knowing she can’t. Once she opens her eyes again, she sees Hook’s hand, held out to her.

“Careful, lass.” He cautions as she slips her free hand into his and allows him to help her up.

“Hook.” She breathes, looking at him with wide eyes. “I –“

“It’s alright, Swan.” He inclines his head in understanding.

“I don’t – my family – are they – what’s happening?” She can’t get the words out, can’t process what has happened.

“They’re safe for now. But we need to get you back as soon as possible.”

“But what’s happening?” She asks again, needing to know.

Hook just shakes his head. “The journey will be a bit rough until we make it through the portal. I’d suggest you head down below with -” he looks down at the baby, obviously not knowing what to say or how to react to her.

“Harper.” Emma supplies, and if it sounds snappy she doesn’t care.

“Indeed.” Hook says, still staring.

“Hook!” She calls, wanting answers, but he ignores her, turning to Henry instead.

“Want to help me sail us back home, lad?”

“Yeah!” Henry grins. Emma wants to pull him to her, wrap both arms around him and never let him go, but she just turns and moves below deck after tossing out a “be careful, please”.

**

Hook’s right – the start of the journey is rough. Harper cries, unused to the rocking motion and the hard swaying the ship does as it travels through the portal. Emma can’t blame her, she feels the same way. She just can’t get away with expressing herself in screams and tantrums like her daughter can.

Emma takes her out of her carrier and holds on to her, unwilling to have even that much space between them as they jump the portal. She fears that she’ll somehow lose her if she doesn’t hold onto her.

Once the ship and Harper finally seem to settle, Emma allows herself to look around the room and remember the last time she’d been here.

She remembers the trips to and from Neverland, the adrenaline and emotions, so similar to her own emotions now, if she thinks of it. The fear and the determination. Just as she knew what she needed to do then, she knows what she needs to do now. And she’s well aware of what’s at stake.

Last time, though, she hadn’t made the journey alone. She’d had a roommate and –

Her heart speeds up and then comes to a stop at the thought of her roommate and the last time they’d been in this tiny, cramped cabin.

She remembers coming back to the cabin after they’d left Henry – or who they thought to be Henry – safely asleep in the captain’s quarters to find Regina sitting on the very bunk she’s sitting on now. She remembers the way Regina had been shaking, with tears sliding down her cheeks silently.

She’d dropped to her knees in front of her, grabbing Regina’s hands and squeezing, making Regina look at her.

_“Hey. Hey. It’s okay. He’s safe. He’s fine. We’re fine. We’re okay.”_

Regina had opened her mouth, but hadn’t been able to say anything.

 _“We got him.”_ She had promised and then, reached up to wipe the tears away. _“I’ve got you. You’re okay.”_

She remembers the way Regina had fallen into her arms then, clutching to her, mouthing words against her neck that somehow morphed into open mouthed kisses. And then how their lips had finally connected, hard and desperate and tinged with salt.

She remembers the rocking of the boat and how their bodies had rocked right along with it. She remembers roaming hands and bare skin and wanting to memorize every little thing about Regina, wanting to hold her and keep her forever. She remembers gasping against her skin and panting into her hair and how she’d felt the tingle of magic under her skin, enhancing all of her feelings.

And she remembers the way that Regina had cried out as she finally came apart, right before Emma followed her.

_“Emma. Emma. Emma.”_

She’s broken from her reverie by Harper, who shifts and fusses in her arms and suddenly Emma’s eyes go wide as she looks at her daughter.

Her daughter.

Her child.

The child she gave birth to nine months after Regina gave her and Henry a new life. Nine months after they got back from Neverland. Nine months after –

“Oh my god.” She murmurs, staring down at Harper with new recognition in her eyes.

But she doesn’t even have time to process anything besides the initial understanding of who exactly her child’s other parent is, because there are footsteps on the stairs and the cabin door opens to reveal Hook, who proclaims, “We’re back, Swan.”

When she makes it up on deck, she feels like the whole world has shifted. And not just because she’s suddenly found herself in another one.

**

“Need a hand?” Hook offers as Emma makes her way down from the ship with Harper.

“What I need is for you to tell me what the hell is going on.” She says, purposefully ignoring his hand and coming down just fine on her own. “You show up at my door telling me my family is in trouble, but now that I believe you, you won’t tell me anything about the trouble they’re in.”

“I think it’s best if you hear it from your parents.” Hook deflects, starting towards the large castle that Emma remembers being in ruins the last time she was here. It still looks beat up, but in much better condition than it had been.

 

Emma blinks at that, thinking for the first time of her parents. “Oh god. How are they? Are they safe?” She hurries to catch up with him, but a thought crosses her mind that makes her stop, fear taking over her entire body. “It’s not – Regina’s not –“ She can’t even bring herself to say it, to think it.

“She’s here. On our side.” Hook says, seemingly understanding her fear. “She’s the one who sent the mirror to bring back your memories.”

 

Relief floods Emma at those words. Regina is here. She’s on their side. Emma will be able to see her, to talk to her, to touch her. To tell her about Harper.

“Come along, Swan.” Hook nods towards Henry who has already reached the gates of the castle. “Your people await.”

**

“Emma!”

Hook leads them into the Great Hall of the castle where it seems like all of Storybrooke has gathered, all of them calling out her name at once.

There’s only one person who calls out a different name. “Henry.”

She’s the only person that Emma really sees in the crowd. “Regina.” She whispers, feeling her heart expand even as it beats so quickly she’s sure it will burst from her chest.

“Mom!” Henry calls, racing forward to her and Emma can’t stop her tears as she watches Regina drop to her knees to pull Henry into an embrace, holding him tightly and burying her face in his hair.

Emma’s feet move of their own accord, trying to get to her family, to be part of the beautiful reunion that’s happening, but she suddenly finds herself wrapped up in strong arms.

“Emma.”

It’s her father’s voice in her ear and she finds that it brings tears to her eyes and a warmth and safety to her that she wasn’t expecting. “David.” She breathes out, carefully sitting Harper’s carrier down so she can fully hug him.

“Oh Emma! We knew you’d find us again.”

She pulls back with a laugh, ready to tease Snow for her inevitable optimism, but the words and the laughter die in her throat when she takes in the sight of Snow.

It shouldn’t be a shock, especially not because she herself looked the same way only three months ago, but Emma feels her whole body freeze and go rigid at the sight of Snow’s large, rounded belly.

She’s pregnant.

Her mother is pregnant.

It’s as though all the oxygen has suddenly been sucked from her lungs and her heart has been pulled from her chest, because all she can hear are the echoes of voices in her head, voices reminding her that she isn’t good enough.

_“We’re so sorry Emma, but we’re having a baby, you see? A baby that’s ours. And we just can’t keep you.”_

_“What we have with her is unique, but it’s not what I wanted.”_

_“I want to have another baby.”_

“Look at you!” Snow gasps, clearly not noticing Emma’s distress as she pulls her into an embrace. Emma does her best not to flinch when she feels Snow’s belly press against her. “You’re so beautiful, Emma.” Snow cries, holding her cheeks before her gaze drifts down to the baby carrier.

She gasps as she takes in the sight of Harper. “Oh Emma! Hook told us but – I just – you – she’s beautiful. May we?”

Emma wants to say no. She wants to hold her daughter close and not let anyone else except Henry – and Regina – near her. She wants to tell Snow to wait and hold her own child that she so desperately wants because her child isn’t a placeholder, just like Emma herself isn’t a placeholder. But she also knows that her reactions are skewed right now. So she offers a brief nod, looking away and trying to find Regina again as David lifts Harper out of the carrier.

She has just caught sight of her, still murmuring with Henry, when Harper lets out an angry cry. Emma spins back to see Harper crying and obviously upset, in David’s arms. She moves to take her daughter, but Snow beats her to it, taking the baby instead.

“Here. Let me –“

“Maybe I should –“ Emma starts to say, trying to think of a way to politely take Harper back when she is so clearly distressed, but Snow ignores her, bouncing the baby in her arms.

“Hello sweet baby.” Snow coos, but Harper just continues to wail, her face going redder and her arms and legs kicking angrily.

“Okay, I think maybe I should –“

“Nonsense, Emma.” Snow turns just the littlest bit, blocking Emma from taking Harper. Emma sees red. No one will keep her from her child.

“Snow,” David begins, seeing the look on Emma’s face and understanding it for what it is.

Henry pulls away from Regina to move towards the group, feeling the tension rising and wanting to stop it. “Grandpa! Grandma!” He calls, hoping to distract them enough so that Emma can take Harper back.

“Snow, she’s had a long journey and –“

Snow continues to try and soothe the baby but it’s obvious that she’s only making Harper more upset. Finally, Emma can take it no longer.

“Give me my daughter!” She demands, reaching over and pulling Harper from her mother’s grasp.

Snow gasps and looks hurt, but Emma doesn’t even notice, she’s so focused on her daughter. The crying stops almost instantly as Emma settles Harper against her chest and Emma soothes her, whispering softly and rocking her gently.

Once she’s finally relaxed, she looks back up at her parents and everyone else gathered in the room, all just staring at her.

“I’m sorry.” She murmurs. “It’s been a very long day and she’s just a baby. She doesn’t understand – she hasn’t been around a lot of strangers.”

“But we aren’t strangers.” Snow whispers.

“Of course you aren’t.” Henry steps in. “But Harp just doesn’t know everyone else yet. I bet she’ll be less cranky after a nap.”

Emma beams down at Henry, so relieved that he’s running interference for her. “Yeah, is there somewhere I could put her down? Once she’s asleep, we can all talk – catch up.”

“Of course.” David steps in. “You can put her in the nursery. We’ve been getting it back into shape to get ready for the baby, but there’s no reason she can’t use it for now.”

Until the baby comes and she’s replaced, Emma thinks, but doesn’t say. Instead she smiles and nods and then looks back to her mother. “Congratulations, by the way.”

She’s proud that she manages to sound pretty sincere. Snow just nods.

Emma looks over and catches Regina’s eye then. She moves back towards her. “Regina.” She whispers, overcome again with emotion at seeing her.

But Regina’s face stays a neutral mask, not breaking out into the smile that she had been hoping for. She stops in front of her, just drinking in the sight of her and she can’t stop the smile that spreads over her own face. She won’t school her reaction in front of everyone. She doesn’t care what they think.

“Regina. I’m so happy to see you. You look –“

“You should get your child down for a nap, Miss Swan.” Regina says, her tone the same as it had been when she first arrived in Storybrooke – reserved and edged. It’s like a slap in the face to Emma, especially the ‘Miss Swan’.

“I –“

Harper squirms just the littlest bit in her arms and Regina raises a brow, although she decidedly does not look down.

“I do need to put her down. But I need to talk to you, too.” She knows she sounds pleading and she doesn’t care.

Regina says nothing, just turns her attention back to Henry who has come back over to them, looking back and forth between them as though trying to figure out a puzzle.

“Everything okay?” He asks.

“Of course, dear.” Regina smiles a beatific smile at Henry, ignoring Emma and Harper completely. “Come along while Miss Swan puts… your sister down for a nap. You can tell me all about how you’ve been the last year.”

Henry looks at Emma as though asking if she’s okay with this. Emma gives him a nod and turns to follow her father, but she finds herself glancing back at Regina as she does so.

**

David leads her to the nursery and when they enter, he stops and just stares at Emma with a look she can’t understand.

She looks around, seeing that they have indeed fixed up the nursery from the way it was when she was last here and had burned the wardrobe. The crib is still there, but it’s been righted and with a pang Emma sees the unicorn mobile hanging over it. Her unicorn mobile. Except not hers anymore.

The candles make the room bright and cheery instead of the cold, dark blue she remembers, but there’s still something about the room that makes her ache.

“There are chambers, right through this door.” David says, pointing them out. “You can take them to be close to Harper.”

Emma’s brow furrows. “Aren’t they yours and Snow’s? I can stay somewhere else with Harper. I don’t want to –“

“No.” David shakes his head. “Our chambers are down the hall.”

Emma blinks at that. She can’t imagine having Harper’s nursery anywhere but next to her room and even then, she’s got the baby monitor going so she can be awake the instant she hears her daughter. She had kept Harper in the bassinet in her bedroom for the first month of her life. How could they stay that far away with no monitoring system?

“The guards will listen and let us know if the baby wakes up.” David explains as though he knows what she’s thinking. Or maybe she spoke aloud. She isn’t sure.

 

Emma says nothing for a long time, just stares at the crib. Finally, she clears her throat. “Are you sure this is okay? Snow looks like she’s ready to pop any day. I can just keep Harper in the chambers with me and –“

“It’s fine, Emma. Please. Use it and the chambers.”

Emma nods and offers a smile. “Let me just get her settled for a nap and then –“

“Of course. We’ll be in the Great Hall, waiting.”

“Thank you.”

He leaves her alone and Emma looks around the room once more before moving to the door he’d indicated and walking through to find her chambers.

**

Emma’s in her chambers, holding Harper as she stares out the window, when Henry finds her a few minutes later. Harper gurgles, tugging on Emma’s curls.

“She’s Mom’s.” He says and Emma turns to face him. “Isn’t she?” He tacks on the question, but he doesn’t need to ask it. It’s so obvious now, to look at her. Sure, she’s got Emma’s blonde hair and her green eyes, but there’s something about her that’s just so Regina he can’t imagine how they didn’t remember as soon as they laid eyes on her in the delivery room.

“Yes.” Emma whispers, looking down at her daughter.

“How?” Henry asks. “I mean – magic, I guess. But –“

“I don’t know.” Emma says and she sounds so lost.

“Does Mom know?”

“No.”

“You have to tell her.” Henry insists, until he sees the look on Emma’s face.

“I’ve tried. As soon as I – as soon as I remembered, I tried to talk to her. She won’t talk to me. She won’t even stay in the same room as me.” Emma sighs.

“Then I’ll tell her.”

“Henry.” She smiles then, almost sadly. “It needs to come from me.”

“Okay.” He nods, understanding. “But it needs to be soon. She needs to know.”

“I know.” Emma closes her eyes, leaning down to let her hair fall onto Harper, who giggles in her arms.

**

She waits until Harper is soundly sleeping, nestled in the crib that was supposed to be hers, before she finally heads back to the Great Hall. She’s used the quiet moment with her daughter to calm her emotions and swirling memories.

She needs to know what new threat she is up against. She needs to figure out how to save everything. Then she can worry about her own rather fragile emotional state. For now, she needs to become The Savior again.

Snow and David are waiting for her, seated at a large round table that she feels certain they hold council meetings around. A few of the others are milling around the room, glancing at her and offering her smiles that she does her best to offer back, but her attention is focused on her parents.

“So.” She says as she sits down, taking in a deep breath. “A lot’s happened in the last year, huh?”

She tries not to sound bitter and thinks she mostly succeeds.

Snow beams, her hand rubbing circles on her belly. “Yes, it has.”

“Hook said that you guys were in trouble. That that’s why I needed to come back here. What’s happening?” Emma asks, cutting right to the point. She doesn’t want to have to fawn over her coming sibling right now. She just wants answers.

Snow and David share a look before David turns back to her. “There’s a threat. She’s taken up residence at Regina’s old castle and –“

“She? Who?”

“The Wicked Witch of the West.”

Emma blinks at that, trying to process the words. “I – I’m sorry. Did you just say The Wicked Witch of the West?”

“Yes.”

“As in The Wizard of Oz, green skin, ruby red slippers, flying around on a broom, Wicked Witch?”

“Yes. Although the ruby red slippers were something that MGM created for the movie not –“

“Okay.” Emma interrupts her mother’s musings. “Okay, so… The Wicked Witch is here in the Enchanted Forest instead of Oz. What does she want?”

“To destroy us.” Snow says solemnly. “She’s been destroying the villages, setting fire to everything in her way.”

“In her way of what, though? Why is she here?”

“We don’t know. But we believe because she lost her power in Oz, she’s decided to come here and take over.”

Emma sighs. Her parents are always so stuck in black and white. Evil has no motive besides to be evil. But Emma knows better. “She’s got to have a reason for taking over here though. Has she sent a message or –“

“She’s sent her flying monkeys to attack us!” Snow raises her voice. “They attacked a group we sent out to try and reason with her. They killed nearly all of them. They killed Neal!”

“Snow!” David hisses, but it’s too late.

“Wh-what?” Emma asks, the words washing over her sharply.

“Emma,” David tries to soothe her, but Emma shakes her head.

“Neal’s dead?” She feels tears stinging her eyes, but knows she cannot let them fall. Not here, not now.

“Robin Hood led a group out to try and spy on the Witch, to gather information. Neal went with them. She must have known they were coming. She sent her monkeys after them. They tried to fight them off, but the monkeys were too strong. Only two survived the attack and that was just barely.”

“Flying monkeys.” Emma murmurs, pushing the rest of the thoughts away.

“Since then, she’s been sending attacks more frequently. More and more people are dying or being injured. Regina has put a protection spell around the castle and has been going out on patrols, but the Witch has powerful magic as well. She needs to be defeated or we will never be safe.”

“We’re so sorry, Emma.” Snow reaches out to squeeze Emma’s hands. “It’s horrible that Harper will never know her father but –“

Emma’s head snaps up. “What?”

“Well, isn’t Neal...”

“No.” Emma shakes her head vehemently. “No.”

“Oh.” Snow whispers, pulling back, looking puzzled.

Emma pushes herself up and away from the table, no longer wanting to be there, no longer wanting to have this conversation. “So there’s a Wicked Witch who is attacking us with flying monkeys for reasons no one knows. And she’s got powerful magic and is probably going to drop a house on us at any minute. Is that about it?”

“Well, yes, but –“

“The castle is safe? You’re sure of it?”

“Regina put a protection spell on it and so far, none of the attacks have been able to get past it, although there is some worry from Blue that it is weakening.”

“Okay. Fine. We’re safe for now. So I’m just going to – I need to think and –“

“Emma.” Snow tries to reach out to her but Emma shakes her head.

“I need time.” She whispers again before she bolts out the door.

**

“Emma!”

Emma nearly flinches at the sound of her name being called, wanting nothing more than to escape back to her daughter, but then she sees that it’s Aurora that’s calling out to her and a real smile spreads across her face.

“Aurora.”

The princess embraces her and Emma returns it, enjoying the feeling of having a friend for a moment in the midst of the chaos. “How are you?”

“Well.” Aurora gives her a smile. “And you?”

Emma shrugs. “It’s been… a crazy day. But I’m here.”

“Savior,” comes Mulan’s voice. She is walking to join them, although her gait is a little slower than Emma remembers and she seems to be favoring her left leg. “It is good to see you.”

“Mulan. It’s good to see you as well.” Emma smiles at the warrior, especially when she sees the baby in her arms. “And who is this?”

“Oh!” Aurora carefully takes the baby from Mulan, offering her a beaming smile before she turns to present him to Emma. “Emma, this is my son. Philip.”

“Philip.” Emma repeats, her eyes searching Aurora’s. She understands the meaning of the name and she has not yet seen Aurora’s prince anywhere.

The smile fades, as does the sparkle in her eyes. “He – he was with Neal’s team when they were attacked. He didn’t survive.”

“Oh, Aurora.” Emma reaches out to squeeze her arm. “I’m so sorry.”

“And, I, too, am terribly sorry for your loss. Was your child –“

Emma shakes her head. “No.” She says softly. “She wasn’t Neal’s.”

Neither Aurora or Mulan seem confused or judgmental about that and Emma is grateful. Mulan does bow her head, though. “I am sorry, Savior.”

Emma opens her mouth to speak but Aurora beats her to it. “Mulan!” Her voice is sharp. “Don’t you dare apologize. We’ve talked about this.”

“I survived. The others –“

 

Emma realizes then that Mulan had been with the group that had been attacked.

“And thank the gods you did. If you hadn’t – if I’d lost you too –“ Aurora’s voice breaks.

Emma moves forward and reaches out to catch Mulan’s arm. “You are the best warrior I know, Mulan. I know there’s no way you got out of there without doing the right thing. Don’t you dare blame yourself, okay? Aurora is right. I’m very, very glad to see you alive.”

With that, Emma hugs the stoic woman, surprised by how very true the words are. Although her heart is still aching terribly at the loss of Neal, she’s so very glad that Mulan wasn’t a casualty too. She is fond of the warrior and it’s obvious that Aurora needs Mulan just as much as Mulan needs her.

“Mulan? Snow said two of you survived. Who was the other one?”

“Robin’s son, Roland. He’s only a boy. Little John and some of the other surviving Merry Men who were not with us have taken him in as their own.”

Emma nods, understanding. “You saved him.”

“I covered him with my body. As such, I could not save the others.”

“You did the right thing, Mulan. Everyone in that group would say the same thing.”

She watches as Mulan gives her a solemn nod and then moves back over to Aurora, protectively standing guard over her and looking down with such reverence at the child in her arms. She’s glad that they’ve found each other in the midst of all the chaos. She just wishes the same could be true for her.

**

She finds Harper awake when she gets back to the nursery and uses the baby as a distraction from everything. She gives her dinner and they play and she allows the smell and feel and sight of Harper to soothe her.

Henry is off with Regina, catching up and she doesn’t begrudge them that at all. She wants them to have this time. She knows that her parents probably want time like that as well, but she can’t handle that right now. So she lets Harper enthrall her as always, until the baby finally falls asleep, at which point Emma decides to join her.

It isn’t long, or at least it doesn’t seem like it’s been long, until she hears Harper fussing. She quickly gets up and checks her diaper, but she’s dry, and she doesn’t want to eat. Instead, she just whimpers miserably in Emma’s arms.

“Shh. Shh.” Emma soothes. “What’s the matter, Munchkin? Huh?”

It’s then, as the words come out of her mouth, that everything suddenly seems to bubble over.

Emma feels the hysterical laughter coming up her throat and finds that she can’t do anything to stop it. Instead, she lets it flow from her lips, even as words spill out too. “Munchkin. Oh god. I call you Munchkin. And now I find out that the Wicked Witch is real. Which means that Munchkins probably are too. Oh my god.”

And then, she’s crying and sliding to the floor, but she’s still got Harper in her arms and she cannot do anything to hurt her daughter, cannot do anything to endanger her in any way, so she forces herself to calm down by taking big deep breaths.

Harper has stopped fussing now and is instead looking up at her distraught mother. Emma gives her a watery smile. “I’m sorry, baby. Momma’s sorry. It’s just a lot today. It’s a lot for you too, huh? Is that why you’re so fussy? You miss home?” Emma’s lip begins to wobble.

“There’s no place like home.” She murmurs as tears fall. “Oh god.”

She forces herself to stand up and carefully places Harper back in the crib. The baby doesn’t cry, but she looks up at Emma as though waiting for something.

Emma forces the tears down and opens her mouth. “How about a song, huh? A song about home?”

She takes a deep breath before she begins to sing, her voice shaking. “Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood. Hop a flight to Miami Beach or to Hollywood. But I’m takin’ a Greyhound on the Hudson River line. I’m in… a New… York… state… of…”

The sobs come up again and this time, Emma can’t stop them as she sinks to the cold nursery floor. She cries for the life that she lost, the home in New York that isn’t really hers. She cries for the memories of a life that didn’t belong to her and the memories of the one that did, the memories that seem even more razor sharp now. She cries because this is her life, fairy tales and Wicked Witches and she doesn’t know how to escape, even though she wants to. She wants to so desperately and she cries because of that, because she’s supposed to be the Savior, not the lost little girl who runs away from her problems.

She cries for Neal, who is dead, who she never got to say goodbye to. She thinks of her confession in Neverland, of her wishing he was dead, and it hurts all the more now, because it was true. It still is true. It’s painful, but it’s easier too, and what kind of person does that make her?

The same kind, she thinks, as more and more sobs come and she gasps for air harder and harder, that cannot be happy for her parents when they’re expecting a baby. The same kind that resents that baby and what it stands for. The same kind that feels threatened, that knows that she’s going to once again be replaced.

She’s going to be replaced. And it’s that thought that sends her over the edge, that wracks her body with sobs she cannot control until she finally, mercifully, slips over the edge into unconsciousness.

**

Regina waves her hand over the mirror, watching as the nursery comes into view. She knows that she shouldn’t be doing this, especially not after the way she treated Emma earlier, but she needs to see her. She needs to see Harper. She needs to know what is going on with them.

The mirror clears to reveal Emma holding Harper, but looking obviously in distress and she moves closer, trying to find out what’s happening. Emma’s voice comes through the mirror.

_“Munchkin. Oh god. I call you Munchkin. And now I find out that the Wicked Witch is real. Which means that Munchkins probably are too. Oh my god.”_

Regina’s heart aches as she hears Emma beginning to unravel under the weight of her new reality, knowing how difficult this must be for her. And the longer she watches, the more she hurts until finally, when Emma’s sobs stop echoing because she has cried herself out, Regina disappears from her chambers in a cloud of smoke.

**

Regina appears right beside Emma, kneeling on the cold stone floor. She looks over the blonde’s disheveled appearance and cannot stop herself from reaching out and gently moving a strand of hair off Emma’s tear streaked face. She’s so beautiful, even like this.

It’s the first time she’s touched her in over a year and she can feel the spark on her skin, the buzz of magic. She pulls her hand away quickly, afraid that Emma will wake. She cannot face her now. Not when her emotions are so close to the surface.

Once she is sure Emma is still sleeping, she waves a hand over her, watching in satisfaction as Emma’s body is moved from the stone floor to the comfort of her bed once again.

She quietly enters the chamber, pulling the covers up and tucking them around Emma. Emma sighs softly, but doesn’t wake up.

Without thinking, Regina leans forward and places a gentle kiss on Emma’s forehead. As soon as her lips touch the smooth skin, she pulls back and flees the room, entering the nursery once again.

She intends to keep going, to leave the room and go back to her chambers, but the sound from the crib stops her. Harper is still awake and cooing softly. It isn’t the whimpering of before and Regina knows she should leave but instead, her body continues to rebel against her brain and she finds herself standing over the crib looking down into hazel eyes.

“Hello there.” She whispers and she swears that Harper smiles at that as her little arms reach upward.

She cannot pick her up. She absolutely cannot hold this child. It will be far too painful. And besides, if Emma were to wake up and find her here – no. She needs to leave.

But she doesn’t.

Instead, she finds a precious weight in her arms as she cradles the baby who causes her heart to burst in both joy and pain.

“Hello, Harper.” She murmurs. “I’m Regina."

Harper lets out a little baby laugh, a sound that takes Regina’s breath away with it’s beauty, and then settles herself in Regina’s embrace, content to be held by her for the rest of the night.


	3. Chapter 3

“Regina!” Emma calls the next morning as she rushes down the staircase after having caught sight of Regina speaking with Mulan. After last night, she knows she needs to talk to Regina, to tell her about Harper. She needs Regina’s help to sort through all of this.

Regina freezes for just a moment at her voice, before she continues walking just as she had been.

“Regina, wait! Please!” Emma manages to catch her, grabbing her arm, which Regina quickly pulls away. “I need to talk to you.”

“Well, I am sorry, Miss Swan, but I need to leave for a patrol immediately.”

“Regina, please.” Emma says, her eyes pleading. “This is important. I need you.”

Regina cannot look at her or she knows she will bend. She’s already faltering over Emma’s words. “And I need to go on the patrol to be sure the castle is safe from the Wicked Witch. That is important.”

“Regina!” Emma tries again but Regina just walks away, looking at Mulan who is standing by the gate.

“Are you coming or not?” She snaps, not even waiting for an answer.

Mulan follows her after shooting a sympathetic look at Emma.

**

“How do you do it?” Regina asks once she feels like they’re a safe enough distance away from the castle. Her words are quiet, almost as though she hopes that Mulan won’t hear them, but she does.

“How do I do what?” Mulan glances over at Regina, her expression showing that she’s already well aware of what Regina is asking, but wants the queen to say it out loud.

“How do you…” Regina searches for the right words, picturing the scene she’d witnessed between Mulan, Aurora, and the baby before they left. The way Mulan had cradled the little boy before handing him back to Aurora. The way their foreheads had touched as they’d whispered softly to one another. The gentle kiss the warrior had bestowed upon the tiny forehead before she’d straightened up and left the room without looking back. “How do you love Philip, knowing that he isn’t yours?”

Mulan is quiet for a long while before she answers, as though she’s been turning words over in her head. “How did you love Henry when you knew he wasn’t yours?”

Regina opens her mouth, ready to filet Mulan with sharp words before she takes notice of the way Mulan is watching her. There isn’t judgment there, only true curiosity and perhaps understanding, although of what, Regina isn’t sure.

“He was mine. In my heart. I didn’t know who his parents were. I didn’t have to be reminded every time that I looked at him that…” She trails off, unwilling to give voice to her thoughts, her pain. “Even after I met Emma and knew that she was his birth mother, I loved him because he’d been mine all those years. He’ll always be mine. But…”

“But Harper won’t?” Mulan gives a small smile that is nearly hidden by the shadows they are riding through.

Regina doesn’t answer. She looks away, staring straight ahead, her posture perfectly straight. Mulan doesn’t push, just rides beside her in silence, waiting until Regina is ready to continue speaking.

“How can you forgive her?”

“There is nothing to forgive.” Mulan replies easily. “I never told Aurora of my feelings. I always knew of her love for Philip and his love for her. I was afraid to tell her the truth. I waited and I nearly lost her. We did lose him, forever. How can I be angry with her if she didn’t know what was in my heart? And how can I do anything but love Philip? He is a part of her and a part of his father, who I also respected and loved. But more importantly, he is innocent in this situation. He’s done nothing wrong, just as Harper has done nothing wrong.”

Regina’s eyes close. “Every time I look at her, every time I hold her, my heart… it expands and constricts all at the same time.”

“You wish she was yours.”

Regina opens her mouth to protest, but finds she cannot say anything past the lump in her throat and the burning in her eyes.

“You could love Henry because you didn’t know of his parentage. That’s what you said. But you know of Harper’s and that’s what is hindering you. Because Emma was with someone else and that hurts you.” Mulan looks over at her for a long moment. “Does she know of your feelings, Regina?”

“I –“ She wants to say yes. She wants to say that if Emma doesn’t know – didn’t know – of her feelings then she was just as much of an idiot as her parents. But she also knows that she never said the words. She never admitted her feelings to Emma because she hadn’t even admitted them to herself until after Emma was gone.

“You cannot blame her if she didn’t know. And if the child is not Hook’s or Neal’s, which Emma says she isn’t, then that means the child was conceived while Emma was under your curse. She had no recollection at all of who you were – who any of us were. So how can you blame her for that?”

“I’ve blamed others for far less.” Regina admits softly.

“And look how that turned out.”

Regina looks over at Mulan in surprise. She never would have expected the stoic warrior to say something like that to her.

“By punishing Emma, you are also punishing yourself and that little girl. And it’s sad, really, because Emma cares so very much for you and every time you ignore her and turn her away, she is hurt.”

“You think I have the power to hurt The Savior?” Regina scoffs.

“I think besides her parents and her children, you have the most power to hurt her. And I think, deep down, you know that.”

“I’m the Evil Queen. Hurting people is what I do.”

“But you’re not. At least not to Emma. I don’t think you ever really have been.”

“And to you?” She asks, because she cannot touch the rest of what has been said. “Who am I to you, Mulan?”

“You were the Evil Queen, at least at first. But then I saw you through Emma’s eyes and you became… Regina. And now I’ve seen you through my own eyes and I see someone too afraid to take their happy ending when it’s right in front of them.”

“How dare you.” Regina growls, even as her stomach flips in acknowledgement of the words spoken.

“I dare because you no longer frighten me, Regina. And because of what I told you. I have been where you are. I know what is at stake. I dare because someone has to.”

Mulan goes quiet after that, refocusing her attention on the path they are traveling. Regina does her best to follow suit, but Mulan’s words ring too loudly in her ears.

**

Emma frowns as she and Henry enter the Great Hall. She had thought she was coming to talk with her parents, but instead, she is presented with a whole slew of others.

The dwarves, The Blue Fairy, Tinker Bell, Archie – in his bug form and damn if that doesn’t throw her for a loop, Ruby, Granny, Belle, Aurora, Marco, and even Hook are all sitting around a large table. It’s a council, she realizes. And something tells her that whatever they want, it isn’t going to be good.

“Emma,” Snow tries to stand, but her protruding belly makes it difficult. Emma looks away from her, trying to catch Ruby’s eyes, but she’s helping David fawn all over Snow. Emma glances at Hook, raising her eyebrow, but he merely shrugs and shakes his head, his lips turned down. None of this is giving her any warm fuzzies.

“Henry, maybe you should –“

“Ma, I’m staying.” Henry is resolute and Emma finds that as much as she knows she should send him away, she also wants him there for support.

She looks back at the table where Snow has been reseated. “Look –“

“Please,” Snow cuts her off, “sit down.”

Emma huffs, but she and Henry both slide down into the chairs that have been left open for them.

“Look, whatever you want to talk about, can we make it quick? Harper’s down for her nap but she’ll probably be up soon and I don’t want her waking up alone.” Emma knows what it’s like to wake up crying and have no one come to comfort you. She’s determined that her children will never feel that way.

“We believe we’ve found a way to defeat the Wicked Witch.” Snow begins, thankfully cutting right to the chase upon hearing Emma’s tone.

“Okay. Great. How?” Emma feels like this seems a little too easy, but easy would be welcome right about now.

“There was a prophecy. It was passed down through the fairies. We didn’t think it was possible, however.” The Blue Fairy begins.

Emma feels herself grow weary at the word prophecy, although Henry’s face lights up. “But now you do.”

“Yes. Now we believe it can be fulfilled.”

“Okay. So what’s this prophecy say? How do we defeat the witch?”

“We need to use the Waters of Oblivion.” David tells her.

“The Waters of what now?” Emma’s never heard of such a thing before, but then that’s really nothing new.

“The Waters Of Oblivion. Glinda The Good is the creator of the fountain from which they flow. They have been used in the past to bring about the end of evil rulers.” Blue explains.

“And if they don’t work, maybe we’ll still get lucky and just melt the bitch.” Grumpy grouses.

Emma rolls her eyes. “Yeah, because that apparently worked so well the last time.” She sighs. “Okay, so I’m assuming this fountain is in Oz. We’ve got the beans now, so we can get there pretty easily, right?” It’s not like she wants to be jumping universes, but the quicker she gets this over with, the quicker she can work on getting back some semblance of a normal life with her family.

“Well, we do have the beans, yes.” Snow’s voice is halting and Emma instantly knows that there’s more to this. Of course there’s more to this.

“But?” She prompts.

“But from what we know, the fountain has been destroyed. The waters are gone.”

“And we know this how, exactly?”

“That’s where I come in, love.” Hook offers, but he’s not even trying to flirt with her from what she can tell, which really sets her teeth on edge. If Hook’s trying to be serious, then she knows she isn’t going to like this. “I made a stop over in Oz before I came to find you. Spoke to Ozma herself, the saucy little minx. She showed me the fountain, told me the waters are gone and that only Glinda is able to bring them back.”

“So why didn’t you just ask Glinda to bring them back?” Henry wonders, his eyes still wide and filled with wonder. Emma wishes she could find even a bit of his excitement within her.

“Kid’s got a point. I mean, it shouldn’t be that hard to spot a giant flying bubble carrying her around. Especially if the Wicked Witch is over here.”

“That’s the problem though.” Snow explains. “Glinda hasn’t been seen in Oz for years.”

“28 years to be exact.” Hook adds.

“So she was cursed to Storybrooke.” Emma begins mentally flipping through all the residents she knew, trying to think of who her persona could be.

“That’s what we thought at first, but it doesn’t appear to be the case. No one remembers her and Regina has said that she wasn’t part of the curse.”

“Then where did she go?”

“No one knows.”

“Okay, so, you need the Waters of Oblivion, but to get them you need Glinda, but no one knows where she is. But you still think you know of a way to defeat the Wicked Witch. Am I getting this right?”

“According to the prophecy, there is a way to find Glinda.”

“What is it?” Emma nearly snaps. She’s tired of all this cryptic bullshit. She just wants them to tell her what it is she has to do.

“Hook brought back a possession of Glinda’s. We believe that it will steer the portal to wherever she is and help the one that goes through find her.”

“What is this possession? The ruby red slippers?”

“No, no. Nothing like that.”

“More like this, love.” Hook holds up a pointy black hat. “Ozma assured me that it was one of Glinda’s most prized possessions. She certainly had it locked up tight enough.”

Emma wants to comment on just how much the hat looks like it would belong to the Wicked Witch rather than to Glinda, but figures she’s better off keeping those thoughts to herself. She is still in the dark about so much of this stuff.

“O-kay. Well, give me the hat and let’s get this show on the road.” Emma says, turning to Henry. “Listen to me, Kid. I want you to stay with your Mom and watch out for –“

“It isn’t you.” Blue cuts in, causing Emma to stop and look back at her.

“What?”

“The person that the prophecy says will defeat the Wicked Witch. It isn’t you, Savior.”

“Well then why did you call me in here to tell me all this if –“

“It’s your daughter.”

There is a collective gasp from the people around the table who apparently had no idea this is what Blue would say – Snow and David, she notices immediately, don’t look surprised at all – before silence falls, nearly deafening in its emptiness.

And then, Emma starts laughing.

It’s loud and long and on the verge of hysterical, but she can’t seem to stop herself, even as she gasps for air and everyone else looks at her as though she’s the one that’s lost her mind.

“I’m sorry.” She manages, wiping away tears that have started to fall down her cheeks. “Really. I just – that was a good one. I mean, you really had me going for a second.”

“Oh.” Henry breathes beside her, letting out his own little relieved laugh.

“This is no joke, Princess.” Blue’s voice is stern, the epitome of a nun chastising a naughty schoolgirl. Henry’s laughter dies immediately.

“No.” He whispers, his eyes searching his grandparents’ faces, but they are somber. “You can’t mean –“

“No.” Emma shakes her head, denying it instantly. “Tink?” She asks the fairy she trusts, praying that she’ll say there’s been a misunderstanding.

“The prophecy states that the baby of the Savior will bring about the end of the Wicked Witch.” Tinker Bell says softly, unable to look Emma in the eye.

There’s a crash as Emma jumps up, sending her chair toppling over. “You’re insane. You’re absolutely fucking insane!” She shouts.

“Emma!” Snow scolds.

“No!” Emma shouts back. “You cannot be serious. You cannot be thinking – actually thinking – about sending my daughter – my _baby_ – through a portal that you don’t even know where it will go.”

“She would have the hat and the prophecy says –“

“Fuck the prophecy!” Emma shouts back. “I will not let you do this. I will not – I will get every single bean you have grown and I will take them and my family and we will leave this place, do you hear me? We will go back to our lives.”

“Your family?” Snow is teary eyed as she stares at Emma. “Emma, we are your family.”

“No.” Emma shakes her head, tears sliding down her cheeks. “Not if you think that it’s okay to send my child away for the greater good. My family is Henry and Harper and –“ The other name is on the tip of her tongue, ready to burst forth, but David interrupts her.

“Emma, please. I understand how you feel. You have to know that I –“

“That you what?” Emma spits. “That you know how it feels because you stuck me in a wardrobe and shipped me off without knowing where I was going or what my life would be like when I was only hours old?”

“We believed in you. We believed in the prophecy. And we need you to do the same now. If Glinda isn’t found –“

“I don’t care if Glinda isn’t found. I don’t care if the Wicked Witch attacks. I don’t care if this whole place burns to the ground. You are not getting my daughter. She is a three-month-old baby. An innocent, defenseless child. And I will not sacrifice her. I will not give her up.”

“You gave up Henry.” The words are out of Snow’s mouth before she can even think about them and the reaction is instantaneous. Emma rears back as though she’s been physically hit and Snow’s hands fly to her mouth.

“Grandma!” Henry gasps, completely floored by what his grandmother has just said and done. He could not believe that they were even considering sending Harper away, but those words cut both he and Emma far worse than anything else could have.

“Emma. Henry. Oh god. I didn’t mean –“ Snow pleads.

“I gave up Henry,” Emma’s voice shakes under the weight of her anger, “because everyone else was pulling all my fucking strings so that I could ‘fulfill my destiny’. I gave up Henry so that he would have his best chance because I knew I couldn’t take care of him. Because I couldn’t be a parent – not when I’d never had one. Not when I’d been abandoned by the side of the road and abandoned in a foster home and abandoned in jail all because of a fucking prophecy. I gave up Henry for him, not for the greater good and not to save myself or my kingdom. I would not and will not _ever_ give up my children for the greater good. I would do anything, _anything_ to protect them and keep them safe. I will kill you all with my bare hands before I let anything happen to them.”

Emma spins away from the table, heading for the doors of the Great Hall before she stops and turns back around, pinning Snow and David with her gaze. “You want to send a baby through a portal without knowing where she’s going or what will happen to her, then you send yours.” She flings her hand out towards Snow’s stomach accusingly. “You’re good at that.”

Snow sobs as Emma turns, never looking back as she bursts through the doors. Henry rushes after her. The rest of the room is silent.

**

Regina and Mulan can hear the commotion from the moment they enter the castle and they’re both instantly on guard.

“Is it an attack?” Mulan asks, already drawing her sword.

“I don’t know.” Regina’s got a fireball in hand. “But I’m going to find out.”

They move swiftly toward the Great Hall, but before they make it to the door, it flies open and Emma comes barreling out, looking both determined and shaken with Henry trailing behind.

“Emma? Henry? What’s wrong? What’s happened?” Regina calls to them, but Emma just keeps going and Henry only tosses the words “Harper” and “Snow” over his shoulder before hurrying to keep up.

A growl makes it way up Regina’s throat as she enters the room, wondering what it is that Snow has done this time and what it has to do with Emma’s child.

Everyone in the room looks startled to see her, especially still wielding the fireball. Snow is crying rather heavily and David looks sad and confused. The Blue Fairy is frowning and Aurora is holding Philip to her tightly, as though afraid to let go of him. Everyone else is ashen.

“What happened?” She demands.

No one answers. Regina feels the fireball flare with her anger.

“There was a prophecy.” Aurora’s voice finally cuts through the silence, a slight tremble to it. “That the baby of the Savior would save us all from the Wicked Witch.”

Regina whirls on Blue. “What prophecy? Who told you of it?”

“It has been passed down through the fairies from an oracle.”

“What have you done?” She demands of Snow, who only cries harder.

“Based on the prophecy and the information we have about Glinda The Good and The Waters of Oblivion, we believe that the child is the one who will bring her back here to stop the Witch,” Blue continues.

“What have you done?” She practically yells.

“They wanted her to send the baby through a portal, to find Glinda. Alone.” Aurora says and when Regina looks at her, she sees that she’s crying. Mulan has moved over and is holding tightly to her and the baby, her dark eyes hard as they stare out at everyone else in this room.

“What?” Regina’s voice is deadly.

“Emma got very upset.” Tinker Bell picks up the story. “A lot of things were said…” She doesn’t say any more but she doesn’t need to. Regina’s got a fairly good idea of what went on and she knows that she’ll find out the rest from Henry later.

Now, she’s got other things to worry about.

“If any of you lay a hand on so much as a hair on that child’s head, I will destroy you myself.” She hisses before turning on her heel and heading for the nursery.

**

“Regina!”

Regina spins so quickly and with such a vicious snarl that Ruby shrinks back. She may be a wolf, but right now Regina is giving off major alpha vibes that Ruby knows better than to mess with.

“Do not speak to me, Miss Lucas.” Regina growls. “Not after you sat there in silence while those idiots –“

“I did.” Ruby admits and there’s a bit of anguish there. “You’re right. I did just sit there. I didn’t do anything and I should have. For Emma, I should have.”

“But you were too loyal to your precious Snow.”

“No.” Ruby denies, but there’s a part of her that knows it’s true. Snow was her best friend first and after everything they’d been through, she’s well aware that her loyalty will always lie first and foremost with her.

But Emma was her friend too and more than that, her goddaughter. She’d made a promise years ago to help guard and protect her and so far, she’d done a bad job of it. She should’ve done a better job in there, when she’d so clearly witnessed the anguish on Emma’s face. She should’ve, but she didn’t. And that’s why she knows she needs to start now.

“I do not have time for this simpering. You’ve been a naughty puppy. You deal with it.”

“Regina!” Ruby calls in exasperation. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know that that’s what the prophecy said or that they were going to ask her –“

“And if you had?” Regina’s eyes flash.

“I would’ve stopped it.” Ruby says, her voice unwavering. “I cannot believe that they ever even considered it. After what they did – I don’t know how they could –“ She shakes her head in disbelief.

“Well, that makes two of us. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go see what kind of damage they have inflicted on the daughter they claim to love.”

“Regina, wait.” Ruby calls, moving with speed that is more wolf than human to block Regina’s path. “You know that’s not a good idea. Not now.”

“You think she won’t want to see me?” Regina looks ready to rip her limb from limb to get passed her.

“No. I think you’re the only person besides Henry and Harper that she would want to see right now.” Ruby admits. She’s well aware of the beyond complicated relationship Regina and Emma have. She knows about Emma’s feelings for Regina. And if her senses are right, she has a feeling she knows about Harper’s parentage too. “But you and I both know Emma. We know what happens when she feels cornered.”

“She runs.” Regina whispers more to herself, but Ruby hears her and nods.

“Snow and David have her trapped in a corner right now. If you go after her, even if it is for damage control, you’ll do more harm than good. Give it a little while. Let her calm down. Then go to her.”

 

Surprise flashes through Regina’s eyes. “You’re telling me to go to her in a few hours? Me? The Evil Queen?”

Ruby rolls her eyes. “We all know that that’s not who you are. Not anymore. Not to Emma. And not to me. So yeah, I think you should go to her, because we both know that she’s been trying to talk to you since you came back.”

Regina stands tall under Ruby’s gaze, but she does feel the guilt rising up again. She cannot blame Emma, she knows she can’t, and yet…

She pushes past Ruby, heading for her own chambers to gather herself before going to Emma.

“Regina?” Ruby calls after her once more. She turns with a frown.

“What?”

“Just don’t hurt her.”

Regina turns away, unable to reply. But in her heart, she knows what she would have said.

_I’m more worried about her hurting me._


	4. Chapter 4

Henry just barely makes it through the door behind Emma before it goes slamming shut, effectively blocking out the guard stationed outside.

His eyes widen as he realizes that Emma didn’t touch the door, going to the crib to scoop up Harper instead. She used magic. She’s practically vibrating with it – although that could just be her shaking from emotion – and her eyes are glowing white instead of their normal color.

He’s pretty sure that she doesn’t notice though, because once she’s got Harper in her arms, she heads straight for the door to her chambers, not even blinking as it opens seemingly of its own accord. He hurries through it too, before it also slams shut with a bang that makes him jump.

“Ma?” He asks cautiously, his eyes darting from her to Harper. The baby seems fine in Emma’s arms though, so he focuses back on Emma.

Her eyes have closed and he watches as she mutters to herself. “Think about what you’re protecting. Think about what you’re protecting.”

She opens her eyes, staring hard at the door they just came through. “I’m protecting my family. I’m keeping them safe. No one can harm them. No one can come through those doors to take them.”

Henry knows then, what she’s doing. She’s putting up a barrier to stop people from entering the room.

“Harper. Henry. Regina. Harper. Henry. Regina.” She repeats the names over and over again until the white magic finally fades away. Then she slumps onto the bed, clutching Harper and still shaking.

**

“I’m your baby.” Henry says when Emma has stopped shaking and settled Harper on the bed beside her.

Her eyes fly up to him and he instantly knows that she took his words the wrong way. “Oh, god, Henry, of course you are. Of course you are. And you have to know, you have to understand that I love you so much. So much. And Harper, she –“

“Ma.” He squeezes her arm to stop her. “I know. I know that Harper’s not…” he takes a breath before he speaks the words, cushioning them as best he can, “a replacement. I know you weren’t trying to replace me or get a redo or whatever. She’s an addition. She’s the best addition.”

Tears slide down Emma’s cheeks at his words and her face crumples just a bit under the weight of emotions. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He smiles. “That’s not what I meant though. I meant… the prophecy. It said the baby of the Savior. I’m your baby too.”

“No.” Emma shakes her head quickly at the words. “No, Henry. Absolutely not.”

“But Ma, if I go –“

“No. I will not send you god knows where alone. I won’t do it. I don’t care what happens here. I will not put you in danger. Not you and not Harper. It’s not up for discussion.”

He pulls out his trump card then, hoping to get a rise. “I’ll ask Mom then.”

Emma just laughs. “If you think Regina’s going to let you go off portal jumping, then your memories must still be affected.”

Henry sighs. “I can convince her. I’ll make her see it’s the only way.”

“It’s not. There’s always another way. Another choice.”

“But this might be our best chance. If I do this, if I find Glinda and get help then it’ll stop. And we can go back to our lives, just like you wanted. You, me, Harper… and Mom.”

“Henry, we both know it’s not that simple. Not at all.” She sounds so tired.

“Ma, it’s my turn to be a hero.” He says, his eyes locked on hers. “For all of us.”

“Being a hero isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, Henry. Believe me, I know.” Emma sighs and Henry’s heart hurts at the sound. “That’s why I won’t let you do this.”

Her words would be final to anyone else. But Henry’s never been like anyone else. His mind is already turning, even as he gives her a resigned nod. He’ll find a way to be a hero, no matter the cost.

**

“Do you love her? Do you love Mom?” Henry asks quietly later, after watching Emma stare out the window for a while. It’s a question that’s been swirling in his head ever since he realized that Mom was Harper’s other parent. For their magic to have done that, to have created his little sister, it had to mean that Emma and Mom were true loves, didn’t it?

Emma turns and offers him a small smile. “I don’t know, Henry. I don’t – I don’t really know how to love very well.”

“Mom said the same thing to me once.” Henry reveals.

“Well, your Mom and I, we’ve been through a lot. We’ve been… hurt a lot. Sometimes purposefully, other times not, but it all adds up, you know? It makes it hard.”

He thinks of Harper and how tiny she is and how Emma would never, ever leave her alone to fend for herself. And he thinks of himself and how Mom had always loved and protected him, even when he maybe didn’t deserve it. And then he thinks of Emma and how she had been younger than Harper when she’d come through the tree, and of Mom and how no one, not even his grandfather, had really protected her and his heart twists in his chest. It had been so easy even just a year ago to only see their titles – Savior and Evil Queen – but now he can see beyond that. He can see the people who had been so hurt. And he can also see the people they are now.

“I don’t think that’s true.” He says softly. “You and Mom, you both know how to love me. You know how to love Harper.”

“Well,” Emma says and her eyes look just a little glassy as she smiles at him. “That’s easy. Loving you two, that’s the most natural thing in the world. But loving someone else…”

“I think you’re both learning. And I think you could learn the rest together.”

Emma looks out the window almost wistfully before she glances back at him. “Maybe.”

“You make a good team.” He smiles and this time, she smiles too, a full, wide smile.

“Yeah. We do.”

**

Regina waits for nearly three hours before she finally leaves her chambers and goes to check in on Harper and Emma.

 

She goes to the nursery first.

It is empty.

The crib where Harper usually rests is bare and Regina feels panic rise up within her like she hasn’t since Henry was a toddler and wandered off from her at the park. It’s the same fear now, the loss of her child and the panic that comes with it, although she doesn’t register it as such. She only knows that she has to find Harper, has to make sure she’s safe, because if she isn’t, there will be hell to pay.

She turns on her heel and rushes across the room to the door to Emma’s chambers.

**

The door creaks as she opens it, slipping inside and breathing a huge sigh of relief when she catches sight of Emma, sound asleep on the bed, Harper asleep on her chest. Emma’s holding the little girl against her heart, protecting her, even in sleep.

“Mom?”

She jumps at the voice and turns to find Henry, sitting in a chair by the bed, watching over the two sleeping blondes.

“Henry.” Regina breathes as her hand comes to rest against her chest where her heart is still beating rapidly. “She’s here.”

There’s a look on Henry’s face that she doesn’t understand – a question flitting across his features – before he finally breaks out into a smile. “You’re here.”

“Harper wasn’t in her nursery.” She whispers in explanation. Henry’s smile grows.

“You checked on her.”

“Yes, well, I – after finding out about everything that happened today I thought I’d look in on her. When she wasn’t in the nursery I –“

“Ma wouldn’t leave her there alone. Not tonight. Not after –“ A haunted look crosses Henry’s face for a moment before he shakes it away. “She wouldn’t let them take her.”

“Of course not.” Regina agrees, moving closer to Henry.

“I wouldn’t either.” He says, puffing his chest up then in a way that makes her heart ache. Her little prince is growing up and turning into a hero all his own.

“Oh, Henry.” She pulls him into her arms, holding him tightly for a moment. “I wouldn’t either.” She murmurs, allowing the words to come out instead of keeping them locked inside.

Henry’s grin splits his face. He pulls backs and looks at her for a long moment before he opens his mouth. “Mom, there’s something –“

He’s interrupted by a commotion at the door. Regina hears the sound of the doors banging a bit and then Snow’s voice filters through, calling out for Emma. She frowns, her brow furrowing. Why is Snow making such a racket? Why isn’t she just coming into Emma’s chambers?

Henry looks to the bed, where Emma stirs just slightly and then back to Regina. The grin is still there and there’s a sparkle in his eyes too. One that says ‘I know something you don’t know’.

Regina waves her hand toward the door and the chambers suddenly fall silent, a wall of magic blocking out the sound. “Why doesn’t she just come in?”

“She can’t.” Henry replies with a shrug. “The door’s sealed.”

“No it isn’t. I came through it not five minutes ago.”

Henry just keeps grinning, looking at her with an expectant look. And suddenly, the penny drops.

“She protected it. She used her magic.” She looks at Emma. Emma who used her magic to protect her daughter.

“Yep.” Henry nods.

“But –“ _It let me in_ , Regina wants to argue. Surely Emma couldn’t have wanted to allow her in? But if she didn’t, then the magic would’ve kept the door closed, just like it did to Snow. Wouldn’t it?

Her thoughts are interrupted by a tiny cry and she turns automatically at the sound to see Harper squirming in Emma’s hold.

Henry moves to take her, but Regina is quicker, carefully sitting on the side of the bed and reaching out for the baby. Even in the haze of sleep, Emma reacts, clutching Harper tighter, which only makes her cry out in alarm even more.

“No. You can’t take her.” Emma mumbles, thrashing her head, even as her eyes stay closed.

“Shhh.” Regina soothes, resting a hand over Emma’s. “It’s alright. I’m not going to take her from you.”

Emma’s eyes blink open then, cloudy with sleep and confusion, but when they meet Regina’s gaze, she relaxes almost instantly. “R’gina.” She mumbles, loosening her grip on Harper and allowing Regina to take Harper into her arms.  “You’re here.”

They’re the same words Henry said earlier and she feels like there’s some kind of significance that she’s missing. But she shakes it off and just rocks the baby in her arms, smiling down at Emma. “Yes. I’m here and so is Henry. We’ll watch over Harper. You go back to sleep.”

Emma’s eyes begin to droop, but she forces them open for just a moment more. “No one else.”

“No.” Regina agrees. “No one else will come here tonight. You’ve made sure of it.” She waves the hand not holding Harper and allows the sound of Snow and the guards to filter back through. They’re still banging on the door and yelling. Emma flinches and frowns at the sound before smiling sleepily at her achievement.

**

“She hasn’t been sleeping.” Henry says later, when Harper has fallen asleep clutching Regina’s night dress and Emma has begun shifting restlessly on the bed.

“That’s a normal thing for new mothers, dear.” Regina says with amusement in her voice as she carefully places Harper in the bassinet she’s conjured next to Emma’s bed. She’s well aware of the hours Emma keeps with Harper, thanks to her mirror. “For the first five months of your life, I don’t think I ever managed more than three hours of sleep at a time, if I was lucky.”

“Well, yeah, but… it’s not that. I mean, I know she gets up with Harper and stuff but…”

Regina tilts her head, taking in the worried expression on Henry’s face. “What is it, Henry?”

When he looks up, he looks so young that her heart nearly skips a beat. “She’s the savior.” He whispers, but whereas before he always said those words with pride and awe, now he says them with dread and disappointment.

“I don’t understand, sweetheart.” She admits.

“I thought it was so cool, that she could bring back the happy endings you know? But I didn’t realize that it wouldn’t stop. She’ll never stop being the Savior. People will always expect her to save them. They’ll never let her rest. They never let her rest.”

“Henry.”

“She cries at night.” He tells her and it’s nothing that Regina doesn’t already know, but it somehow hurts more to hear it from Henry. “They wanted to send Harper away and they expected her to do it because she’s the Savior and that’s what saviors do.”

“Oh, Henry.”

“All she wants is a simple life with her family. And she’ll never have that. Not here.”

“Because of me.” Regina whispers.

“Because of Gold.” Henry counters. “Because of the prophecy. Because of everything. It isn’t fair.”

“No.” Regina smoothes back Emma’s hair, watching as she slowly settles under her touch. “It isn’t.”

Henry watches them for a moment before he nods to himself. “That’s why I have to go through the portal to find Glinda.”

Regina’s head whips up, her eyes piercing Henry. “What?”

Henry’s amazed that she’s managed to keep her voice so low while still being so harsh to his ears. He manages not to flinch under her gaze though, meeting her eyes head on.

“The prophecy said the baby of the Savior. I’m the baby of the Savior too.”

Regina is the one who flinches then and Henry feels bad because he knows she’s thinking of all the times he denied her as his mother and touted Emma instead.

“I’m your son too, Mom. But if the prophecy is talking about the baby of the Savior bringing back Glinda, it could be talking about me, right? You’re the one who told me that these prophecies can be twisted or interpreted wrong. Blue thinks the prophecy is talking about Harper, but what if it’s talking about me?”

“I don’t care who the prophecy is talking about. I will deal with this witch. Neither Harper nor you are going through any portal on a suicide mission to find a flighty blonde who is god knows where. I will not allow it. And if your birth mother has put these crazy ideas into your head –“

“She didn’t.” Henry is quick to defend, not wanting his mother to go back to her harsh attitude with Emma, not after she’s softened so much since she’s been in the room with them. “She told me no, too.”

“Well, for once your mother and I agree on something.”

Henry wants to point out that they actually agree on a lot of things – all of the important things about him and Harper – but he knows that will only make his mother more apt to closing herself off instead of actually listening to him.

“She won’t send Harper. But you know, no matter what she says about taking the beans and leaving everyone here to fend for themselves that she won’t do that either.”

 

Regina’s heart lurches at the thought of Emma taking a bean and leaving with her children. She does her best to convince herself it’s just because of Henry, but there’s a part of her that knows better – especially after her talk with Mulan. She cannot stand the thought of losing any of them, even if she cannot find the words to tell them that either.

 

“She’s the Savior.” Henry spits the word with venom, so similar to the way she had once said it. Only she’d thought she hated the person. Henry obviously hated the title alone. “She’ll go. And then what will happen?”

 

“She is very capable. She’s already proven that time and again.”

 

“And if she isn’t? If the prophecy is right and the price of her going against it is her life? Then what? What happens to Harper? What happens to all of us?”

 

“What happens to all of us if you die?” Regina snaps back. “What happens to me? You are everything, Henry. Everything.”

 

“No.” He shakes his head. “I’m not. You just refuse to see the rest.”

 

“Henry.”

 

“I’m the son of the Savior and the Ev – the Queen.” He corrects himself. “I can do this. Let me do this, Mom. Let me be the hero this once.” He reaches out and grabs her hand. “Let me do it for you and Ma and Harper.”

 

“You don’t even know who you’re looking for or where she will be.” Regina protests.

 

“Neither does Harper and they wanted to send her!”

 

“They’re imbeciles!” Regina just barely manages to keep her voice down so as not to wake the two sleeping blondes.

 

Henry nods, as though conceding that point. He looks back over toward the bed. “Tell me I can go, Mom. Make Emma see it’s alright.”

 

“And if I don’t?”

 

Henry smiles a sly smile then, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a magic bean. “I go anyway.”

 

“This is her influence.” Regina growls, but Henry notices that she’s looking over at Emma with affection. He also notices that even though his mother could take that bean from him in the blink of an eye, she doesn’t.

 

“I can do this.” He affirms again, knowing that she knows it too. “And once it’s over, once it stops, we can go back to New York and live normal lives.”

 

Regina flinches. Henry grabs her hand again. “As a family, Mom.”

 

Regina’s eyes close. She wants that so much, she realizes in that moment, that she can see it playing out behind her eyelids when she closes her eyes. “Oh Henry. I don’t think –“

 

“You need to talk to her.” Henry insists. “Soon. I don’t know why you’re acting this way, why you’re mad at her, but you’ve gotta talk to her mom.”

 

“I’m not mad, Henry. I just –“

 

“You ignore her. You treat her like you did when she first came to Storybrooke. But I know that when you guys came to get me in Neverland you were friends. I know you care about her.”

 

“It’s complicated, Henry.”

 

Henry thinks of all that Emma has said, of all the things he knows about his mother and he shakes his head. “No, it’s not. You’re just making it complicated.”

 

“Henry.”

 

“Talk to her.” He insists again. “And let me go.”

 

Regina closes her eyes tightly before she gives one tiny nod. It takes everything in her not to break down when she opens her eyes to see Henry smiling victoriously at her. He looks so much like Emma just then that she has to look away.

**

By the time Emma wakes up, Henry has already gotten the hat from Hook and is sitting on her bed, waiting to say goodbye.

Emma sits straight up in bed when she catches sight of what he’s holding.

“No. Henry. No.”

He offers her a smile. “It’s okay, Ma.”

“No. It is most certainly not okay. You cannot do this. I told you –“

“And I told you that I can. And that Mom would agree.”

It seems that it’s only then that Emma realizes Regina is in the room as well.

“Regina.” She gasps, searching her face. “You told him –“

“He made a few very good points.” Regina says, not looking at her. “And besides, he already had the bean and threatened to go with or without our approval.” She does look over at Emma then and it’s one of the first times that they’ve really looked at each other since Emma came back. “I blame you for that.”

Emma lets out a small laugh before she pulls her gaze away from Regina and looks back at Henry. “Henry, you –“

“I can do this, Ma. I need to do this. For Harper. For our family.”

Tears begin to slip down Emma’s cheeks and Regina feels her own eyes growing wet.

“Henry.” She murmurs, knowing exactly how Regina felt when she thought she was going to lose him all those times over the years. “I can’t –“

“You won’t.” Henry grins at her as he leans over and hugs her tightly. “I love you, Ma.”

She sobs against his shoulder, clutching tightly to him. “I love you, Henry. I love you. I love you.”

He finally pulls away and smiles at her, the crooked smile that she loves so much, even if most of her memories of it aren’t really real. “See you soon.” He promises before moving over to hug Regina tightly.

Emma thinks they must’ve done most of their goodbyes before she woke up, because although Regina clutches him tightly just like she’d done, she lets him go with a kiss to the forehead and a nod.

Henry tosses the bean away from them, grinning madly when the portal opens. He holds tightly to the hat before he jumps in, the portal spinning and spinning until it finally closes.

The room goes silent then, except for Emma’s sobs and even though she aches for Regina to come and comfort her, the queen merely looks at the place where the portal was with silent tears sliding down her own cheeks.


	5. Chapter 5

“He should be back by now, shouldn’t he?” Emma says three days later when she’s finally managed to corner Regina in the library. She’s spent the past three days worrying for Henry while also trying to talk to Regina, who had always managed to elude her. She’d steered clear of everyone else, keeping Harper safely tucked away in the protected nursery. 

Regina has spent the past three days steering clear of Emma and the past three nights visiting Harper in the nursery, even though it only made her heart ache worse. She sighs, although isn’t really surprised that Emma has finally managed to catch up to her. Emma is nothing if not persistent. But Regina doesn’t intend to allow Emma to break down her walls again.

“We don’t know where he was going or how long it would take to get there. And he has to find the little dingbat and convince her to come back with him. She may not wish to. Or she may not remember this place at all.”

“Can’t you track him? Use your mirror or something?” Emma sounds truly desperate now.

“The mirror doesn’t work through the realms.” She admits and then quieter, “I’ve already tried.”

“Okay.” Emma sighs tiredly, but then perks up again, seeing her chance. “Since I’ve got you –“

“Believe me, Miss Swan,” Regina snaps, “while you may have had many, many men in your life, you most certainly do not have me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Emma frowns, wondering where the hostility is coming from.

“It means that I am well aware of your track record with men. And since you claim that your daughter was sired by neither the pirate nor your supposed true love, then I can’t help but wonder if you even know…”

“Don’t.” Emma warns, her voice hard to hide the shaking in it. She cannot have this conversation right now, not without blurting out the truth, and as much as she wants to just say it, she knows she needs to approach it with some kind of finesse. Otherwise Regina will never believe her.

“I merely wondered if you had exposed Henry to many men in your year away, given your penchant for one night sta–“

“The only man in my life was and is Henry.” Emma snaps. “And you have absolutely no room to talk about one night stands. 

“I beg your pardon.” Regina scoffs, looking offended.

“Yeah, well, maybe you should’ve begged my pardon after you –“ she wants to say fucked and ran, wants to spit the words angrily and see how Regina reacts. She wants to know if it really meant so little to her. “Left.” She finally manages.

“I left? What are you talking about, Miss Swan?”

“Don’t do that.” Emma hisses at her, all her hurt and anger coming to the surface. “Don’t act like you don’t know or don’t remember. Don’t act like I didn’t wake up alone after we –“

Regina’s eyes blaze. “You woke up alone because I went to go check on my son, to make sure he was alright. If you couldn’t handle that because of your abandonment issues –“ she sees the minute the blow lands, the pain written all over Emma’s face, but it doesn’t feel much like a victory. The way that Emma’s eyes harden and her walls come up instantaneously doesn’t feel good at all. She wants to apologize, but she can’t – she won’t. “Besides, it isn’t as if it mattered much to you. You didn’t even speak to me after. You left me alone to fend for myself again.”

“I tried to talk to you!” Emma huffs. “But you ignored me and focused on Henry. You shut me out again – out of your life and his. And yeah, once we got off the ship, I wasn’t there for you, but that’s because yet another crisis started. I tried to warn you and you turned me away.”

“Because I thought you were trying to take Henry!”

“Well I wasn’t!” Emma shouts, her voice breaking just the slightest bit, but Regina hears it because she’s so attuned to finding people’s weaknesses. “I was trying to make sure we were all okay. And we weren’t. Of course we weren’t. Because we never are. Because it never stops! It’s always one more thing, one more disaster or villain or curse. And I’m the Savior, so I have to deal with it. And it _never ends_!”

Emma’s as close to losing it as she’s ever seen her – besides the night that she did lose it, crying and clutching to Harper in the empty nursery that should’ve been hers. “But you want it to.” 

“Of course I do! Don’t you?” Emma’s eyes are imploring, trying to find some understanding from Regina, some sign that she’s not the only one who is tired of all these battles. “I got a taste of what a normal life could be like this year, thanks to you.” 

“And you want that back.”

“Of course I do.” Emma says again, but it’s calmer now, more tired than anything. “No curses or magic, just my family and the day to day grind. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.” 

A family. A family that she’d never been able to have, never been able to enjoy, not really, but for that one year without any of them, without any memory of them at all. 

“And after this is over, you’ll go back to that.”

Emma frowns. “I don’t know. I –“

“Henry told me you have the bean already.” Regina accuses, suddenly all sharp and menacing again. Emma thinks of the small weight tucked into the inner pocket of her jeans, the backup plan, the escape route. The one she wanted to use with Harper, Henry, and Regina.

“Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t plan on taking him back to New York with you when this is all over. Tell me again how you aren’t going to take my son from me.”

“Jesus, Regina! I don’t know what I’m going to do when this is all over – if this is ever all over. I’m more concerned with Henry coming back alive right now! After that, yes, I think I’d like to go back to New York. But I would never make that decision without talking to Henry. Or without talking to you. I don’t know what he wants – or what you want for that matter. How could I? I haven’t exactly had time to talk to him about this since we got back and this is the first time you’ve spoken more than one sentence to me!”

Regina looks down then, knowing that Emma’s words, at least about her, are true. She is the one who has deliberately kept her distance when Emma has continually sought her out.

“I thought of anyone, you’d be the one to listen to me.” Emma says, her voice no more than a whisper. “I thought you’d be the one to talk all these things out with me. I don’t know what I did, Regina, to make you hate me again –“

Regina’s eyes snap up then, in time to catch the single tear that makes it way from the corner of Emma’s eye. She feels her heart squeeze at the sight and remembers Mulan’s words. _“And it’s sad, really, because Emma cares so very much for you and every time you ignore her and turn her away, she is hurt.”_

“But I would never just take Henry without telling you. Not after everything we’ve been through. I’d never keep your children from you.”

Regina frowns in confusion at that. “My children? What –“ 

She doesn’t get to finish the thought, though, because suddenly there’s the sound of screaming and glass shattering as flying monkeys burst through it. 

“She’s here!” Comes Grumpy’s shout and for just a moment, Regina is tossed back to the day that she cast the curse. It lasts only a second because there’s movement all around them, enough to quickly break her from her reverie.

Emma’s eyes widen when Regina looks to her again. “Harper!” She gasps, the sound panicked.

“Go!” Regina urges, doing her best to tamp down on her own rising panic at the thought of the little girl alone and defenseless. “I’ll take care of this. You keep her safe.”

Emma turns to run but stops, spinning back on her heel. “Regina!” She calls out to the queen who is already moving toward the Great Hall where she can hear the sound of the witch’s cackle echoing off the walls. “I –" 

The rest of the sentence dies as she sees Regina tossing magic at the winged monkeys circling overhead, her concentration fully on the task at hand. “Later.” Regina grits out, unwilling to hear anything else from Emma at that moment. “Go!”

Emma goes. 

**

Emma can hear the sounds of the battle going on as she rushes through the corridors to get to the nursery. The sound of flapping wings and screeching monkeys, of blasting magic and screaming people. She feels like a coward, running the way she is. She’s supposed to be The Savior. She’s supposed to have her sword drawn, charging into battle. She’s not supposed to be running the other way.

But now more than ever, she knows that she is first and foremost a mother and she will protect her daughter at all costs.

She makes it to the nursery and is just about to slam the door shut, already murmuring under her breath to strengthen the protection spell when a blast of green magic hits the door and forces it open, the spell shattered.

“Well, well, well,” comes a drawling voice and she turns to come face to face with The Wicked Witch of the West. “What have we here?”

Her long black hair is hanging in loose curls around her shoulders, falling onto the black dress that clings to her body. At first glance, it almost appears that the dress is made from rags, but closer up, as Emma finds herself, she can see that it’s actually quite beautiful, made from layers of cloth with splashes of red and silver mixed in with the black.

She thinks of The Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz and is struck by how truly beautiful this green skinned woman is in comparison. She has dark brown eyes that remind Emma of Regina, and although her skin is green, it doesn’t look ugly, not to Emma anyway.

She is broken from her pondering by The Witch’s voice once more, taunting. “The Savior, running away to hide from me.”

Emma blinks, her spine straightening. The Witch knows who she is. Does that mean she knows about Harper too? She cannot let The Witch have her. She needs to get her away from here. 

“I’m not running from anyone, Greenie.”

The Witch laughs then, a cackling sound. “Was that supposed to insult me?” 

“What do you want?” Emma asks, stepping closer to her, hoping to force her back, out of the room and away from Harper. 

Dark eyes flash. “What I want, you can’t give me.” 

“Try me.” Emma takes another step. They’re nearly out of the nursery. Just a little bit farther. 

“I’d rather fry you.” The Witch responds, holding up a hand that begins to glow green. Emma swallows hard, but she stands firm.

But before The Witch can throw the magic, Harper lets out a cry that has both women turning to look at the crib. Emma’s heart plummets, spinning around to try and catch The Witch by surprise or take the shot of magic herself. But that’s when she sees it. The Witch falters at the sound of the baby. The glow of green disappears as The Witch takes in Harper.

“A child.” She whispers to herself.

“Yes.” Emma seizes on it, understanding suddenly just how little they know about this so called enemy. “My daughter. So if you want to kill me, go ahead, but please, leave her alone. She’s just a baby and –“ 

“I would never hurt a child.” The Witch hisses.

“I know.” Emma says firmly, because she does know. She believes her.

Dark eyes turn back to her, narrowed in suspicion. “You do?”

“I do. Because you put out your ball of magic when you saw her. I know you wouldn’t hurt her. In fact, I don’t think you want to hurt anyone.”

The Witch laughs then, but it’s lacking somehow. “Don’t you know, Savior? I’m The Wicked Witch of the West.” 

“No.” Emma shakes her head, her confidence building as she watches The Witch. “That’s not your name – your real name – is it?” 

Dark eyes narrow into slits. “Whatever you think you know about me, you’re wrong.” 

“I don’t think I am. I don’t think you’re wicked at all. I think it was just a title that was given to you, to make you seem like a threat. I think it was The Wizard who gave you that title and I think that he was the truly wicked one. Am I right?” 

The Witch blinks, clearly surprised. “How – how do you –“

Emma shrugs. “Hey, I saw Wicked.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“Okay, okay, so I second acted it and watched the first act on YouTube. It’s like impossible to get tickets to, okay?” Emma huffs, trying not to think about how she has memories of taking Henry to see the show for his ninth birthday and how they aren’t real at all.

“What?” 

“Oh! I bet you don’t – in my world, Wicked is a musical about your life. It tells your side of the story. Or at least what those guys think is your side of the story. Hey, is your name really Elphaba?” 

The Witch gasps. “How – how do you know that?”

“It is!” Emma grins. “So they were right. You weren’t wicked. You were different. And powerful. And the Wizard couldn’t handle that.”

Harper lets out another cry and Elphaba moves closer to the crib to look in at her. Emma watches her and knows that she won’t harm the child. She smiles encouragingly at her. “Go ahead. Pick her up.”

Elphaba jumps back. “What?” 

“I trust you.” Emma says, knowing that she needs to show trust in the witch. “Go ahead.”

Elphaba refuses to move, so Emma moves instead, scooping up Harper and placing a kiss on her head before placing her in Elphaba’s arms. Elphaba shifts her hold and looks down at the little girl who reaches up towards her, babbling as she does.

“Well, hello, my pretty.” Elphaba whispers, but it’s not the threat the movie made it out to be. It’s an endearment that makes Emma’s heart squeeze. Just like Regina was always mislabeled, it seems that Elphaba has been too.

“You didn’t just attack us for no reason, did you?”

Elphaba looks up, a scowl painted on her face. “I did not attack first. You did.”

“What?”

“I sent Chistery, my dearest friend and most trusted advisor to bring a message for you when you arrived. He was sent back to me by your Regina with an arrow through his chest. An arrow that your sainted mother put there.”

“Hey!” Emma raises her hands, shaking her head. “Don’t put my mother’s actions on me. I know better than anyone that she isn’t a saint. And as for Regina – well, I know all about her too.” 

Elphaba blinks, as though not expecting to hear that from The Savior. 

“What did the message say? The one that Chistery was to bring?”

Elphaba frowns as she looks away then. “I was looking for someone. Someone I thought had gotten caught up in the curse. When Chistery was sent back so, I assumed that meant that Regina was keeping her. I retaliated.”

“Her.” Emma says, the wheels spinning and pieces connecting in her head. “Glinda.”

“Yes.” Elphaba’s voice sounds pained. “She disappeared from Oz before I could – Regina took her from me.” There’s the wickedness back in her tone now. 

“No.” Emma shakes her head. “I was in Storybrooke. Glinda wasn’t there with us. And Regina swears that she never was, that she had nothing to do with her disappearance. The fairies think that she’s what will bring about your downfall. There’s a prophecy – my son, Henry, he went through a portal to try and find her. To bring her and The Waters of Oblivion back.” 

“The Waters of Oblivion?” Elphaba scoffs. “Do they intend to melt me because my soul is so unclean?”

Emma rocks back on her heels. “Grumpy thought it might work. The rest of them assume that the Waters have the power to – I don’t know – turn you good or neutralize you or something. But they won’t work on you, will they?”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because you’re not evil. You’re not wicked. You aren’t controlled by dark forces. You’re just like Regina. You had those titles thrust upon you whether they were true or not. The Waters work on people who are truly evil, to dispel that from them. But you aren’t. So they won’t affect you. Only your own choices will.”

“Such belief in me. Some would say you are naïve, Savior.”

“Many would, I’m sure. But I’m right.” 

“You do not know of which you speak.”

“Yes, I do. You were given a title that you had to pretend to die to get away from. Only when you reappeared, so did the title. And the only person who had ever believed in you was gone too. You blamed Regina and when my mother killed Chistery because of her belief in your title, you retaliated. You had the rest of your monkeys attack our people. You perpetuated the title given to you.”

“I did what I had to do.”

“You killed my son’s father.” Emma says, but there’s no real malice, just a statement. “You killed the father of another baby, a child who hadn’t even been born yet. You nearly killed a small boy. That’s not who you are, Elphaba. It isn’t who you want to be. And it isn’t who you have to be, either." 

“They will never allow me to be anything else!”

“Yes, they will. I’ll tell them the truth. I’ll make this listen. I’ll make them see their part in all of this. It won’t be easy but –“

 “It doesn’t matter.” Elphaba shakes her head. “Without Glinda –“

“Glinda is coming back. Henry will bring her back. I know he will. Trust me, Elphaba. We can end all of this.”

“Why trust you? Why do you trust me?”

“Because I know who you really are. And so does my daughter. See?” Emma smirks, nodding to Harper, sound asleep in Elphaba’s arms. “She likes you. Wouldn’t fall asleep like that if she didn’t. Ask my mother.”

“So because your child fell asleep while I was holding her, you trust me?”

Emma rolls her eyes. “We’ve already been over this. Just put my daughter back in her crib and we’ll go talk to everyone else.”

“You seem so sure of yourself, Savior.”

“Emma.” She corrects. “And I am sure of myself. They’ll listen to me. And then we’ll wait for Henry to get back with Glinda.”

There’s a flash across brown eyes that Emma understands – the pain of being separated from someone and wishing for them back. It serves as a reassurance that she’s right about Elphaba.

Elphaba leans over and carefully lays Harper back in the crib. It’s just as she’s about to straighten up that the door to the nursery flies open. Regina takes one glance at the scene and tosses out her arms, purple magic cracking through the air.

“Regina, no! Elphaba!” Emma shouts to warn her, but she knows it will be too late. Elphaba sends her own blast of magic out to try and protect herself, just as Emma rushes forward, determined to protect her. 

Purple and green slam into Emma at the same time, much too quickly for her to stop it, lifting her body off the ground, rippling through her before dropping her back down to the floor with a horrific thud. 

“Emma!” Regina gasps, racing forward and dropping to her knees, even as Emma’s body continues to convulse as the magic goes through her body.

Finally the magic stops and Emma’s body stills. Regina waits with baited breath for Emma to take one. 

With a gasp, Emma’s eyes fly open. “Fuck.” Emma gasps.

“Emma.” Regina lets out a laugh that sounds like a sob. “What were you thinking, jumping in front of her like that?”

“Saving her.” Emma says, her voice rough. “She’s not wicked. Like you. Misunderstood.” 

Regina looks over at Elphaba, who has dropped down beside Emma’s body as well.

“Ahhh.” Emma groans, her body suddenly beginning to convulse again.

“What? What’s happening?”

“Our magic,” Elphaba murmurs, her hands traveling over Emma’s body. “It’s attacking her from the inside. Killing her.”

“Killing her?” Regina shakes her head. “No. No." 

“You know the spell you sent at me. You know what your intentions were. What did you think would happen if it hit her instead?” Elphaba frowns. “My magic would double the effect.”

“We have to stop it.” Regina growls. “I can’t lose – we can’t let it kill her.”

"Eleka nahmen nahmen ah tum ah tum eleka nahmen." Elphaba begins chanting over Emma.

“What are you doing?” Regina hisses at the sound of the chanting, still not trusting the green witch.

"Trying to turn me into a scarecrow." Emma begins to laugh, but ends up wincing and gasping in pain instead. Regina doesn’t look at all amused.

"Trying to save you." The witch replies, not understanding the reference.

Emma feels the strength leaving her body, even with the magic Elphaba is using on her. Her eyes slide closed.

"No. Emma, open your eyes." Regina demands, grabbing Emma's hand and squeezing it tightly. She feels the familiar jolt when their skin meets and her eyes widen. “Magic. Emma, you have magic. Use it. Use it to fight.”

Emma tries, tries to concentrate and think about protecting herself, think about combining her magic with Regina’s to become stronger, but it doesn’t work. Regina’s magic isn’t mixing with hers in that powerful way it usually does. Instead, it seems to be attacking hers, right along with Elphaba’s.  “Can’t.”

“Yes, you can. You can, Emma. Fight. Fight for Harper. Fight for Henry. You can’t leave them. You can’t leave me.”

"When your heart breaks," Emma whispers, her voice shaking along with her body, "you should die."

"No!" Regina cries. "Emma, stop it." 

"My heart was broken.” She whispers. “Lost you. And then... Harper."

"Shh.” Regina pushes hair out of Emma’s face. “Stop talking. Save your strength. Let Elphaba help you." She glances at Elphaba, who is still chanting, but it’s obvious from the set of her face that the witch doesn’t have much confidence in her abilities, not when Emma isn’t responding to her efforts.

Emma's eyes open, catching Regina's. She offers a smile, even as her body is wracked with coughs that shake her form and speckle her lips with red. Lips as red as blood. Regina grimaces. "She's yours." 

"Wh-what?"

"Ours." Emma's eyes close again.

"Emma, what are you saying? What are you –"

"Harper," she breathes her daughter’s name.

"No." Regina shakes her head, even as her heart soars and tears slide down her cheeks. "No. She can’t be. You talked about her father. I heard you through the mirror, Emma. You’re confused. You don’t know –" Even as she denies it, she remembers the way Emma had constantly tried to talk to her, the words “your children”, all of it. 

"You." Emma manages, deadly serious. "The curse. Changed memories."

"The curse," Regina repeats in a whisper, thinking of how she had manipulated people’s memories but how the curse also had its own abilities. Regina hadn't known that Emma was apparently pregnant when she’d recast it. The curse would've had to make up for that. And in a land without magic, Emma would have believed she was pregnant by a man – would have spoken to Harper about a father who was gone, instead of a mother in another realm. 

"Thought you died.” Emma’s hand reaches up but then falls limply back down beside her before she can touch Regina’s face. “Remembered your eyes.” She smiles sadly. “When your heart breaks, you should die. Just took a while to catch up.”

“Stop it.” Regina cries, her eyes darting from Emma to Elphaba and back again, not sure who she’s talking to, just knowing that she needs all of this to stop. She needs Emma to be okay so that they can talk about this – really talk about it and figure it all out.

“Take care of her. Love her.” Emma murmurs as her body once again begins to shake.

“Not without you. Emma, please. Emma!” Regina begs as she is suddenly struck with the reality that she is sitting, holding Emma who is slowly dying on the floor of the nursery in the exact same spot that Snow had laid, clutching her own dying prince all those years ago. It’s a horrible kind of déjà vu.

There’s a rumbling then, the room beginning to shake, and Regina looks over at Elphaba. “What did you do?”

“Nothing!” Elphaba cries.

Suddenly, the items on the wall begin to be sucked together, swirling around in a haze of silver, faster and faster and growing larger until Regina and Elphaba realize what it is.

“A portal.”

“Henry!” Regina gasps as she watches her son come tumbling through, falling and rolling on the ground. A moment later, another person comes through behind him.

“Glinda.” Elphaba breathes beside her.

“Elphie!” The small blonde squeaks, even as she unceremoniously falls to the floor too. Regina supposes it’s a good thing that she’s not wearing her poofy dress, but instead a form-fitting pink dress that looks far more modern than anything in this realm.

“Mom!” Henry calls out with a grin. “I did it! I found Glinda and –“ he stops short as he finally takes in the scene before him. “Ma!” He shouts, crawling over to her.

Emma’s eyes flutter, but don’t open. “Hen-“ She manages.

“What happened?” He spins on the green witch. “What did you do to her?”

“Oh, Elphie, no!” Glinda cries as she pushes herself up onto her knees.

“It was both of us.” Regina manages. “We were throwing magic at each other. Emma got caught in the crossfire.”

“Threw herself into the crossfire, more like it.” Elphaba sighs. “She was trying to protect both of us. But our magic hit her and now it’s killing her.”

“No!” Henry cries. “She’s the Savior. She can’t die.” He looks at Regina with wide, pleading eyes, “Kiss her, Mom. Kiss her!”

Regina freezes, staring down at Emma. She finds that she can’t move, can’t even attempt to kiss Emma. All she can think about is another body on a floor, another kiss that didn’t work. She cannot go through that again. She cannot fail the person she loves again.

“It won’t work.” Elphaba says quietly, causing everyone to look at her. “This isn’t a curse, boy. Not one that can be cured by those means. Not one that can be cured at all.” She says the last sentence so quietly that they shouldn’t have been able to hear it, but of course, they do.

“No!” Henry cries. “Save her!”

“I can’t.” Regina gasps, tears slipping from her eyes.

“Glinda, help.” Henry turns to the blonde who he has come to trust in the short time he’s been with her, pleading with her.

“Oh, Henry,” she begins sadly, “I wish I –“ her eyes widen. “Wish. That’s it!”

She reaches down quickly and pulls the silver shoes that adorn her feet off, handing them to Regina. “Quickly, put them on.”

“And what, click my heels three times?” Regina snaps.

Glinda laughs, a musical sound that would be pretty if not for the circumstances. “These are the silver shoes, the true silver shoes. They have the power to grant you your heart’s desire. You have the power in you, Regina. These shoes will bring it out and grant you whatever it is you truly want.”

With trembling hands, Regina slips on the shoes, then turns and grabs Emma’s hand again. She closes her eyes, feeling the slight vibrations up her legs from their power. Her heart’s desire. She doesn’t even know what this is. All that she knows for sure is that Emma Swan needs to be alive for her to get it.

“I cannot lose her.” She whispers. “Come back to me.”

For a long moment, everything is still, including Emma herself. Then, suddenly, a silver glow starts from Regina’s feet and begins to envelop her and Emma. Emma’s body jerks up and everyone watches as green and purple begin to rise out from her body, swirling and mixing with the silver. It’s beautiful, the dance of colors, and then, all at once, it disappears.

Emma’s body falls back to the floor. Her eyes flutter open and she smiles beautifully up at Regina for just a moment before unconsciousness takes her again.

**

It’s dark when Emma finally stirs, feeling the comfort of a bed beneath her instead of the hardness of the nursery floor. She blinks and takes a moment to get her bearings, grinning when she hears the sound of Regina singing softly.

Her eyes zero in on Regina, rocking Harper in her arms as she sings. “Go to sleep, right to sleep, little munchkin. Mama’s tired, mama’s tired and she has to run this town.”

“She tends to prefer Billy Joel.” Emma says, causing Regina to jump and turn towards her. “Not that that wasn’t… adorable.”

Regina huffs. “Well, excuse me. Everyone had to start somewhere, even Stephen Sondheim. At least it scans.”

Emma laughs, glad to find that it doesn’t hurt like hell this time. It’s still pretty damn painful, but at least she’s not about to die. “Number one, I’m pleasantly surprised you know who Sondheim is.”

“I could say the same about you.” Regina counters with a raised brow. “I’m not uncultured.”

Emma smiles. “Of course not. Number two, I don’t think you’re gonna be nominated for a Grammy any time soon.”

Regina shrugs. “Well, these things are so political.”

Emma nods to the sleeping baby. “You look good together.”

Regina sucks in a breath then, as though everything is suddenly hitting her. “Emma.”

“Hey.” She smiles.

Regina lets out a tiny sound that is probably a sob, but she does her best to cover it by turning to put Harper into the bassinet. “Hey.”

“Everything okay? Henry?”

“He’s fine.” Regina assures quickly. “Very proud of himself. And worried about you.”

“I guess the prophecy was right after all.” Emma grins. “Elphaba?”

“Fine. She and Glinda are in one of the other chambers, catching up. She called off the monkeys. We repaired the damage to the castle. I told everyone to ceasefire, which was made easier by the fact that –“ she stops suddenly.

“What?” Emma frowns. It never stops. “What happened now?”

“Your mother went into labor.”

“Oh.” Emma breathes, still not sure what she feels about that whole situation. She knows what she’s supposed to feel, but she can’t quite make her own feelings match up to that. “Is she okay?”

“Yes.”

“And the baby?”

“A little boy.”

“A boy.” She whispers and she knows it’s horrible, but she can’t stop herself from thinking that at least it wasn’t a little girl, at least they didn’t manage to entirely replace her. She’s still the only daughter they have, even if she’s not what they wanted. “That’s good, right? I mean, he can rule and everything. Be a king or… whatever.”

“Yes.” Regina says neutrally. “He can.”

“Good.” Emma nods. “Good.”

Regina sits down and reaches out to touch Emma’s arm. The spark of magic is there between them, strong as it has ever been, and it’s comforting.

“Harper?” She glances over at her sleeping daughter, already knowing the answer.

“She’s perfect.” Regina murmurs.

“And you?” Emma asks her after she catches her eye. “How are you?”

“I –“ She doesn’t know how to answer that. Not really. Everything is still such a jumble of emotions.

“It’s okay.” Emma assures. “Thanks for saving me.”

Regina makes a sound that’s a mix between a laugh and a sob. “I didn’t –“

“You did.” Emma says. “The shoes helped, but I heard what Glinda said. It was you who had the power.”

“Don’t you ever, ever do something so idiotic again,” Regina hisses, deflecting the topic for a moment before she opens up, her fingers tangling with Emma’s and squeezing tightly. “I can’t lose you, Emma.”

“You won’t.” Emma promises. It’s strange to be making that promise, a promise that is very much like forever, but Emma finds that it doesn’t scare her. What does scare her is thinking about going back to a life without Regina in it.

“When we were in New York, I was happy. I had my children. I had a normal life, just like I always wanted. But something was always missing. And that something was someone. Because of the curse, I thought it was Harper’s father. And really, I guess it was. Because it was you, Regina. You were what was missing. You are what I need. What we need.”

“So what? We just leave everyone behind, go off to New York, and become a happy family? Get our happy ending?” Regina asks.

“Please, Regina. Is anything ever that easy for us?” Emma asks with a smirk. “We’ve both still got issues. There’s a lot to work out. A lot to talk about. It will take time and it might even be painful. But I think we can do it. Together.”

“Together.”

“If that’s what you want.”

“And what do you want, Emma?”

“I want a normal life with my family. I want to be Henry and Harper’s mom and your… whatever you want me to be. I want us to be together, wherever you want us to be. If you want us to be.”

Regina opens her mouth to reply, but is interrupted by a cry from Harper. She moves over to pick her up, rocking her and smiling down at her before looking back over to Emma. “Billy Joel, huh?” She asks softly as she settles back down beside Emma, leaning against her and feeling the warmth of her body. It’s a comfort and peace that she relishes.

“Your momma is the one who sings you silly songs, isn’t she?” Regina coos down at the baby, who looks up at her mothers with wide eyes and a large baby smile, as though she knows that her family is finally all together. “Billy Joel and Madonna as lullabies. That’s what’s silly, isn’t it, Harper? Beautiful, beautiful Harper.”

“How do you –“ Emma starts to ask before it clicks into place. “The mirror.”

Regina blushes just the littlest bit as she keeps her gaze focused on Harper.

“You watched us. You could see us.” She looks down at Harper, so enamored with Regina, reaching up to try and catch her face with her little baby fingers. “And she could see you.”

Regina’s head snaps up at that. “What?”

“You were what fascinated her. You were why she was so drawn to the mirror.”

Regina shakes her head. “It’s not possible.” She protests, but she remembers the way that Harper’s hand had fallen right against hers and how it had always seemed like the baby was looking right at her when she would watch them.

“Regina,” Emma says, her voice full of something so much like love that she feels like her heart will burst from the sound of it, “don’t you know by now? The impossible is possible for us. Why should it be any different for our children?”

Her heart does burst then, or at least that’s what it feels like, love spilling out at those words. ‘Our children’.  Emma’s right, it won’t be easy, and it might be a kind of painful progress, but this is what her heart’s desire truly is.

She smiles widely as she leans over and kisses Emma, trying to convey everything she feels for her in that kiss. Emma kisses her back with just as much emotion and Regina feels her whole body tingle as their magic buzzes under her skin.

When she finally pulls back, she’s met with a dazzling smile from Emma and she knows that she matches it as she looks back down at Harper.

“Some folks like to getaway, take a holiday from the neighborhood.” She starts to sing softly. “Hop a flight to Miami Beach or to Hollywood.”

“But I’m takin’ a Greyhound on the Hudson River line.” Emma joins in with a soft smile, understanding what Regina’s saying without ever saying it.

“I’m in a New York state of mind.”


End file.
